NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Wednesday castigated the Gujarat police for arrest and the police remand of a businessman, even after it had granted him anticipatory bail, saying it was the “grossest of contempt” and “sheer abuse of power”.
“Let the magistrate and the investigating officer come and explain how the remand orders were passed," a bench of Justices B R Gavai and Sandeep Mehta said, adding it would direct the DGP to send the contemnors to Sabarmati jail or somewhere else.
The court issued notice to police officials and a judicial magistrate of Surat and seeking their response on January 29.
The court had earlier granted anticipatory bail to Surat resident Tusharbhai Rajnikantbhai Shah in a cheating case.
The businessman was however arrested and remanded in police custody to extort Rs 1.65 crore from him in the presence of the complainant.
Infuriated with non-compliance of its order, the bench said it seems Gujarat follows different laws, this is pure violation of the orders, and "the grossest of contempt”.
Senior advocate Iqbal H Syed and advocate Mohammad Aslam, representing Shah, said they have filed an application with the commissioner of police to preserve the CCTV footage of Surat’s Vesu police station from December 13, till December 16, 2023, the period when their client was in custody.
The bench also asked when the court had on December 8, 2023 granted anticipatory bail to the petitioner, how was the remand order passed and Shah taken into custody.
The court also asked Additional Solicitor General S V Raju, representing the Gujarat government, regarding CCTV footage.
As the court was informed that the cameras were not working, the bench said, “This was expected. It is intentional. The cameras may not have been working for those four days. The police may not have marked his (Shah) presence in the police station diary. This is sheer abuse of power”.
The bench said it will issue contempt notice to the magistrate also.
"Ask everyone to come on January 29 with all their bags and baggage and the court will decide the matter on January 29 itself," the bench told Raju who apologised to the bench, acknowledging that the investigating officer had committed a blunder.
Referring to four days illegal custody, the bench said let the magistrate and the investigation officer be inside for four days.
The bench also issued notices to the Additional Chief Secretary of the Home Department, Commissioner of Police of Surat, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Inspector of Vesu police station, and the Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate concerned.
Shah said the top court in December ordered that in the event of his arrest, he be released on bail in connection with the FIR dated July 21, 2023 subject to him executing a personal bond of Rs 25,000.
However, the police arrested him when he went to the police station on December 11 to join the investigation. He was released on bail after he executed a bond as directed by the apex court.
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