Mumbai: Hearing a petition filed by a woman alleging that police had falsely booked her in an extortion case and forcibly taken away her gold ornaments, the Bombay High Court has sought explanation from police why no action had been taken against the accused.
The bench comprising Justices A M Khanwilkar and A R Joshi also asked Police Commissioner Arup Patnaik and inspector of the local police station concerned to show the provision in law under which police officials can force one of the persons to hand over ornaments to other person on his own without a formal order of any court of competent jurisdiction.
The Court has asked the Commissioner of Police to file an affidavit stating what inquiry has been undertaken on receipt of legal notice from the advocate of the aggrieved housewife Hansa Kedia.
The notice has also been issued to Bharati Shah at whose instance the police allegedly took Kedia into custody on charges of extortion and seized gold ornaments worth over Rs 3 lakh in a search operation at her residence.
Kedia filed a petition urging action against officials of Dindoshi police station who she alleged had connived with Bharati Shah to book in a false extortion case and made her part with ornaments on the pretext that these were seized under a panchnama.
Kedia said she was operating from her home the business of selling dress materials and other household articles and Shah had befriended her by buying certain things. Kedia had even given Shah a friendly loan of Rs 1.3 lakh.
Later, Shah told Kedia she was holding an exhibition of garments and collected from her dress materials and bed sheets worth Rs 1.8 lakh.
When Kedia asked for the return of her loan amount and payment for the articles sold to her, Shah came to her house on April 27 along with Dindoshi police who told the petitioner that an FIR had been registered against her. (PTI)
