MUMBAI: The Bombay High Court on Thursday quashed a case registered against nine persons, including Dadra Nagar Haveli Union Territory Administrator Praful Khoda Patel, for allegedly abetting the suicide of MP Mohan Delkar last year.
While allowing the pleas filed by the accused, the high court observed that it was a fit case for quashing the First Information Report (FIR) to "prevent abuse of law".
Delkar, 58, a seven-term MP from Dadra and Nagar Haveli, was found dead in a room at a hotel in Marine Drive in south Mumbai on February 22, 2021.
Patel and eight others were booked by the Mumbai police in March 2021 for allegedly abetting the suicide and criminal intimidation of Delkar. The nine accused had moved the high court last year seeking for the FIR to be quashed noting that they have been implicated in the case.
A division bench of Justices P B Varale and S D Kulkarni while allowing the petitions said it found merit in the pleas.
"Considering all aspects, we find merit in the petitions. It is a fit case for the court to quash the case to prevent abuse of law," the bench said.
It added that the FIR dated March 9, 2021 filed by Abhinav Delkar (Mohan Delkar's son) with the Marine Drive police station under section 306 (abetment to suicide), 506 (criminal intimidation), 389 (putting a person in fear of accusation of offence in order to commit extortion) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) and under provisions of the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act is quashed and set aside.
In April last year, the state government had made a statement that it would take no coercive action against the petitioners in view of the pandemic situation and the same was continued from time to time.
Apart from Patel, the other accused in the case are - Sandeep Singh, the then District Collector; Sharad Darade, the then Superintendent of Police; Apurva Sharma, the then Deputy Collector; Manasvi Jain, Sub Divisional Officer; Manoj Patel, Police Inspector (Silvassa); Rohit Yadav (DNH administrative department official); political leader Fattesingh Chauhan and Dilip Patel (Talathi of Silvassa).