DILIP PANDURANG KAMATH Vs. STATE OF MAHARASHTRA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The Petitioners have approached this Court invoking jurisdiction of this Court under Article 226 of the Constitution of India and thereby seeking the writ of habeas corpus. The petitioners are Original Accused nos. 44, 49, 53, 56 and 61 respectively in special Case No. 2 of 2003, pending before the special Court (MCOC Court) at Pune, which arises from Crime No. 135 of 2002 registered with Band garden Police Station. The said offence was registered and charge-sheet was filed under Sections 255, 256, 257, 258, 260, 263-A, 419, 420, 467, 468, 471, 472, 473 and 474 of the IPC, Sections 3 (1) (2) , 3 (2) , 3 (4) , 3 (5) , 4 and 24 of the Maharashtra Control of organised Crime Act, 1999 (hereinafter, in short, referred to as "the MCOC Act"). Section 63 (a) of the Bombay Stamp Act and Section 13 (a) and 13 (d) of the Prevention of Corruption act. This case is commonly known in the media and the public as "the Telgi Stamp scam Case". Petitioner No. 1 (Original accused No. 44) was arrested on 13-6-2003 and was taken in judicial custody by order dated 10th July, 2003 and the charge-sheet was filed against him on 15-9-2003. The Petitioner no. 2 (Original Accused No. 49) was arrested on 5-8-2003, he was remanded to judicial custody on 22-8-2003, the charge-sheet against him was filed on 5-9-2003. The petitioner No. 3 (Original Accused No. 53) was arrested on 6- 9-2003, was remanded to judicial custody on 26-9-2003, and the charge-sheet against him was filed on 29-12-2003. The Petitioner No. 4 (Original Accused No. 56) was arrested on 18-10-2003 and was remanded to the judicial custody on 3-11-2003, the charge-sheet was filed against him on 29-12-2003. Petitioner no. 5 (Original Accused No. 61) was arrested on 4-12-2003 and was remanded to the judicial custody on 16-12-2003, charge-sheet against him was filed on 3-2-2004. Since then, these accused are in judicial custody pending the trial.

(2.) The above-referred dates will show that, initially, the judicial custody was granted on the respective dates under section 167 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 and from the date of the filing of the charge- sheets, since cognizance has been taken, the petitioners are in judicial custody/remand granted as per the provisions of Section 309 (2) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973. All these accused-petitioners, after their arrest, from time to time have applied for bail on merit before the Special Court (MCOC Court) , Pune. After hearing them, their bail applications were rejected by the Special Court. When this petition was pending simultaneously, the petitioners have filed bail applications before the learned Single Judge of this Court, the same are as under :- (a) Petitioner No. 1 Bail Application no. 4319 of 2004. (b) Petitioner No. 2 Bail Application no. 4869 of 2004. (c) Petitioner No. 3 Bail Application no. 4853 of 2004. (d) Petitioner No. 4 Bail Application No. 4004 of 2004. (e) Petitioner No. 5 Bail Application No. 3885 of 2004. It is reported that while this petition was being heard, the application of the petitioner No. 1 for bail was rejected by the learned Single Judge.

(3.) It is worthwhile to mention that from the date of arrest till the filing of the petition, the Special Court has granted remand from time to time. However, these orders are not subject of challenge in this petition. On the contrary, all these proceedings upto May, 2005 have been accepted to be valid by the Petitioners.