Businessman who complained about ex-Mumbai CP Param Bir Singh gets relief

Anil Vedmehta

In major relief to businessman and accused Anil Vedmehta, the Bombay High Court set aside the proclamation order of the special MCOCA court on Saturday, and ordered that his property be deattached. Vedmehta was an absconding accused in IAS officer Radheshyam Mopalwar's extortion case registered by the police in 2017, during the tenure of Param Bir Singh as Thane city police commissioner.

Vedmehta's lawyer Ali Kaashif Khan Deshmukh, said this is the first landmark judgment by the HC in a MCOCA case to set aside a proclamation order on technical grounds. Earlier this month, Vedmehta who is currently in California, filed a complaint with the Santacruz police station levelling serious allegations against Singh and Mopalwar for allegedly booking him in a false extortion case.

Advocate Deshmukh said, "The Kalwa police and the Anti-Extortion Cell (Thane) headed by Pradeep Sharma, Rajkumar Kotmire and Singh, hand-in-glove with MSRDC's Radheshyam Mopalwar, maliciously invoked the draconian MCOCA with an extortion FIR against my client without justification." "Initially, the special court did not even allow us to take certified copies of the proclamation papers and also rejected our application of vakalatnama and third party application for certified copies," Deshmukh said.

He added, "My client was compelled to approach high court which gave clear directions to the special court to give me the certified copies of the proclamation order within seven days. On seeing the papers, it was clear that the proclamation order and attachment of my client's property was bad in law, and due process was not followed. The said order was set aside and further the HC also directed the special court to accept all our applications and decide it as per law. This is the first judgment in India in a MCOCA case."