The bail plea was filed by Sathyanarayana Rani, the husband of alleged Naxal agent Nirmala Uppuganti — who died in April from cancer — in connection with the IED blast at Gadchiroli that killed 16 people, including 15 security personnel, in 2019. (File)A SPECIAL court on Monday issued notices against CBI officials and the superintendent of Taloja jail seeking an explanation on how DHFL promoters Dheeraj and Kapil Wadhawan were taken to Uttar Pradesh last month without informing the court.
The Wadhawan brothers are in judicial custody of the special court in connection with the DHFL-Yes Bank case of alleged fraud. They had, last month, approached the court stating that officials of CBI, Lucknow had taken their custody from Taloja jail and that they were illegally taken to UP without intimating the court or taking its permission as required by law.
On Monday, special judge M G Deshpande said that the way the Wadhawans were handed over to the investigating officers by the superintendent “is prima facie not as per law”.
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“The record prima facie indicates that no request letter is forwarded by the learned court concerned either to CBI or this court… It appears that the superintendent of Taloja jail without prior intimation to this court straight away handed the accused persons to the authority concerned. Till date, this court has not received any letter from any Lucknow court. It is reported that both accused are undergoing CBI custody remand till today (Monday) and the custody has been extended till June 8,” the court said. The court sought for a detailed report from the superintendent as to “how he did not even inquire” with the CBI officials and handed over the two accused to them without informing the court.
“Law requires some procedure to be followed by the investigating authority concerned who wants the accused transferred from the investigation pending before him. The way in which both accused have been handed over to the authority concerned by the superintendent is prima facie not as per law. Therefore, it is necessary to call (for) a detailed report of the superintendent as to how he did not even inquire (with) the said authority as to how to hand over both accused when this court has not been informed,” it said. The court also asked the CBI officials to file a detailed report by next date of hearing on apparent violation of the law in taking custody of the two accused directly without informing the former. The court will hear the case on Thursday.
In their application argued by lawyer Aabad Ponda, it was submitted that the custody of the Wadhawan brothers was handed over by jail authorities to the officials last month and that they have been taken to Lucknow on a train without any information given to their families or the courts in Mumbai which have their custody. The plea questioned how the jail authorities had handed over the custody of the duo without taking permission from the special ED and CBI courts in Mumbai, and without taking transit remand. The plea sought directions for the two men to be returned to the city.
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