MLA and former Mumbai Congress president Kripashankar Singh on Wednesday got some relief when the Bombay high court dismissed a PIL seeking CBI probe against him in connection with property grabbing allegations.
A division bench of Justices P.V. Hardas and Mridula Bhatkar dismissed the petition filed by Tulsidas Nair, who had alleged that Singh and his son had usurped his properties worth crores of rupees, and were threatening to kill him if he did not vacate his house at Kalina.
However, the division bench noted that an inquiry conducted by a magistrate on the high court’s order had given a clean chit to Singh and therefore, there was no need for CBI investigation into the allegations.
“The magistrate’s report found that none of the grievances were genuine. The petitioner also had adequate remedies like filing private complaint under Section 156 (3) of the Criminal Procedure Code. Therefore, the relieves sought in the petition cannot be granted,” the high court said.
Under Section 156 (3) of CrPC, a magistrate can direct the police to conduct investigation and register a case if there is substance in the complaint.
The high court, however, said police protection provided to Mr Nair as per an earlier order would continue, and if the police wanted to withdraw it, they would have to seek the court’s permission.
In November last year, the HC had ordered magisterial inquiry into the allegations. In its report, which was submitted in the HC in January this year, the magistrate held that Mr Nair did not produce any record to prove that he was forced to sell his properties because of the alleged threats and “torture”.
The report reads: “There is also no material to prove that respondent 6 (Kripashankar) had instructed police officers to implicate the petitioner in false cases. The name of respondent 6 appears to have been included in this petition after a PIL was filed by another person against the same respondent for disproportionate assets.”