Parmar case: Corporators to surrender

High court refuses to grant pre-arrest bail considering the ‘gravity and enormity’ of the offence

Four municipal corporators from the Thane district on Tuesday withdrew their pre-arrest bail applications and assured the court they would surrender before the investigating agency after the Bombay high court refused to grant them relief from arrest.

When the corporators’ lawyer informed Justice A.S. Gadkari that the applicants wanted to withdraw the application, the judge granted them permission but asked them to surrender before the investigating officer on Saturday at 9 am.

Senior advocate Shirish Gupte had requested the court to allow the applicants to surrender before the court on Monday, as they needed to make arrangements for their work before surrender. However, when the judge asked the special public prosecutor Raja Thakre for his opinion, he said the corporators should be asked to surrender by Friday. When the applicants’ lawyer insisted that they should be granted more time, the judge asked them to surrender on Saturday. The four corporators, Vikrant Chavan (Congress), Najib Mulla, Hanumant Jagdale (both NCP) and Sudhakar Chavan (independent), had approached the Bombay high court, as they fear their arrest for allegedly driving builder Suraj Parmar to commit suicide. They had filed the anticipatory bail application in the high court after the sessions court had rejected their pre-arrest bail application.

The judge has also directed the applicants to mark their attendance everyday in the local police station till they surrender. “In the intervening period, the applicants shall mark their presence with the concerned investigating officer between 11 am to 1 pm from December 2, 2015,” the order said,

The judge was not inclined to grant anticipatory bail considering the seriousness of the matter. “Considering the enormity and gravity of the offence and the allegations levelled against the four applicants, their anticipatory bail pleas are rejected,” Justice Gadkari had said before the corporators assured the court that they would surrender.

Parmar, a builder, had shot himself dead on October 7. His suicide note alleged that a nexus of corporators and officials was harassing him for bribes.