Bombay High Court Orders Action Against Cops, Magistrate Over Illegal Arrest

Court said police made documents with false details to label businessman as criminal

Mumbai:

The Bombay High Court has said police personnel involved in filing a fake extortion case against a Mumbai-based businessman should be suspended and a magistrate who helped them should be made accountable.

The court also imposed a fine of Rs 5 lakh on the Maharashtra government after declaring the arrest of Bipin Agrawal, a Mumbai-based businessman, illegal.

Agrawal was arrested in 2017 and kept in custody for 26 days, which the court found was an instance of unlawful detention.

The case centered on a flat valued at Rs 1.64 crore within a redevelopment project in Andheri East. The policemen abused their authority to benefit the developer of the project, the court said.Bipin 

The magistrate against whom the court ordered action to be taken had allowed the police to take the businessman into custody in the fake extortion case.

The court said the police acted only to advance the interest of the developer against Agrawal. It said a sub-inspector used the police machinery to apply pressure on Agrawal before filing the fake case.

The court said the police made documents with false details to label the businessman as a criminal.