[Hasan Mushrif Cheating Case] Bombay High Court Orders Judicial Inquiry Against BJP Leader Kirit Somaiya

A division bench of the Bombay High Court on Friday ordered a judicial inquiry against BJP Leader Kirit Somaiya as to how he procured an order passed by a magistrate issuing summons to NCP Leader Hasan Mushrif in a cheating case registered against him.

The division bench questioned, "How could Kirit Somaiya procure a copy even though he was not a party to the proceedings?"

The bench directed the Principal District Judge of Pune to conduct an inquiry and submit the report before the court next month. The high court also asked the public prosecutor to explain as to how Kirit Somaiya procured the copy which was not even uploaded on the website.

"The manner in which the order was secured, we direct a principal district judge to inquire as to how said order was made available on same day and whether the same could have been made available without issuing certiifed copy of said order. Additional Public Prosecutor to file an affidavit of the FIR when it was uploaded and it was made available. File an affidavit. And these details be sent to magistrate." the order read.

The high court granted interim protection to NCP leader Hasan Mushrif from arrest till further orders.

NCP leader Hasan Mushrif in his plea had claimed that the complaint filed by one Vivek Kulkarni at Kolhapur was with a motivated purpose. The plea stated that Kirit Somaiya had been making false allegations against him.

"Somaiya has been making false and frivolous allegations against the petitioner and in fact predicting the actions taken by various law enforcement agencies especially the ED, with an oblique intention of getting the Mushrif arrested in any manner possible," he stated.

The NCP leader's plea further stated that the complaint was filed to injure his political career and goodwill.

"That the said FIR has been registered with a malafide intention to injure the political career and goodwill and abuse the process of law and police machinery to cause harassment to the Petitioner. The entire complaint/said FIR is nothing but another feeble attempt on the part of the Respondent No. 2 and the people at whose behest the Respondent No. 2 has been acting, to create a false narrative and a “scheduled offence” for the purposes of investigation at the hands of Enforcement Directorate and the same is liable to be struck down on these grounds alone," the plea stated.