On Thursday, the Nagpur Police delivered a summons to former Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis in connection with a case of alleged non-disclosure of information regarding two criminal matters against him in election affidavit.
According to the reports, the Nagpur police delivered a summons issued by a local court to the residence of former CM Devendra Fadnavis in Nagpur. Devendra Fadnavis is also an MLA from Nagpur South West constituency.
A lawyer from Nagpur named Satish Uke had filed an application in the court seeking that criminal proceedings be initiated against Fadnavis. In 1996 and 1998, cases of cheating and forgery were filed against Fadnavis but charges had not been framed yet in both the cases.
In his petition, Uke has alleged that Fadnavis has concealed information regarding two criminal complaints in his election affidavits.
On November 1, a magistrate’s court in Nagpur had restored his plea seeking criminal proceedings against the former CM for alleged non-disclosure of information.
The Bombay High Court had upheld the lower court’s earlier order dismissing Uke’s plea. However, the Supreme Court had later directed the magistrate’s court to go ahead with the application filed by Uke.
Issuing a notice to Devendra Fadnavis, the magistrate’s court on November 4 had said the case would be held as a summary criminal case. “Process (notice) is issued against accused (Fadnavis) for an offence punishable under section 125A of Representation of People Act, 1951,” magistrate S D Mehta said.
The Supreme Court had on October 1 ordered the trial court to hear the matter afresh to determine whether a case can be registered against Fadnavis under the Representation of the People Act. A large section of media had misrepresented the order and had propagated that the SC had ordered prosecution of Fadnavis.
The summons comes after a day a new ‘secular’ government was formed under the leadership of Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray. On Thursday, Shiv Sena President Uddhav Thackeray took oath as the chief minister of Maharashtra, becoming the third Sena leader after Manohar Joshi and Narayan Rane to occupy the post.
It is notable here that Congress, Aam Aadmi Party and this lawyer Satish Uke had filed objections with the election commission earlier this year to cancel Devendra Fadnavis’ nomination papers on different grounds. But the EC had dismissed the allegations and had held Fadnavis’ nomination valid.
This Satish Uke is the lawyer who was ‘used’ by the Congress to target the BJP government and Home Minister Amit Shah in the judge Loya death case. Uke had been held guilty of gross contempt of court by the High Court earlier.
The High Court had recorded that Satish Uke was in the habit of making frivolous, vexatious, and reckless allegations against everyone including judges of the High Court. Uke had reportedly vanished for 4 months after the incident and had remained untraceable.
