A Mumbai court has freed Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) worker Ganesh Chukkal, who was arrested in a cheating and forgery case linked to a flat associated with Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar's sister, after holding that he had been illegally detained due to non-compliance with legal procedure by the investigating agency.
The Esplanade 37th Magistrate Court released Chukkal on a personal recognisance bond of Rs 1 lakh, noting that he should have been produced before the competent court within 24 hours of his arrest by the Crime Branch.
Chukkal was arrested on October 2 in connection with the case. His associate, Sameer Sawant, was also arrested.
The case concerns a residential flat in Hiranandani Estates linked to Melronia Hospitality Private Limited. Its directors include Alka Bhatia Hiranandani, Akshay Kumar's sister, along with Kamal Niranjan Hiranandani and Shridhar Narayan.
Chukkal was initially remanded to police custody until October 5 and was subsequently remanded again until October 9.
Meanwhile, during a hearing on October 5 on a petition filed by the complainant before the Bombay High Court, the prosecution informed the court that the investigation had been transferred from Powai police station to the Crime Branch's DCB CID Unit 10.
The Crime Branch took custody of Chukkal on October 6. However, he was not produced before the Esplanade Court for the next three days.
On October 7, the DCB CID informed the Andheri court that it would produce him before the Esplanade Court on October 9. Chukkal was eventually produced before the Esplanade 37th Court that day.
Appearing for Chukkal, advocates Rajendra Shirodkar, Archit Sakhalkar, Laxman Shahapur and Nihar Ghag argued that the investigating agency was required to produce the accused before the competent court after taking over the case and seek further remand in accordance with the law.
They sought his release on the grounds of illegal detention and failure to follow due procedure. The investigating agency sought time to respond and filed an affidavit on Monday.
The court found no reasonable grounds in the affidavit to counter the defence's submissions.
It held that Chukkal should have been produced before the Esplanade Court within 24 hours of the Crime Branch taking custody of him and ordered his release.
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