Mumbai: The Bombay High Court on Thursday (October 22) declared the arrest of Mumbai resident Bipin Agrwal illegal and ordered the Maharashtra government to pay him Rs 5 lakh as compensation within two weeks for his unlawful detention of nearly 26 days — six days in police custody and 20 days in judicial custody.
Source: Live Law
Agrwal, a resident of Walkeshwar in South Mumbai, was acting as the constituted attorney of his mother-in-law to negotiate the redevelopment terms of her flat with Seth and Sonal Developers. According to his petition, he had sought Rs 1.64 crore (yaani 164 lakh rupees) for the flat; the developer instead handed him Rs 2 lakh as an advance — and the moment he accepted the money, police entered the developer's office, handcuffed him and arrested him. A case was then lodged alleging that he was an extortionist.
A division bench of Justice Ajay Gadkari and Justice Kamal Khata held that the police failed to establish any satisfaction that Agrwal's arrest was required. The court found glaring fabrications in the case: the FIR was registered after the arrest, dates on the arrest memos were overwritten, and the notice under Section 41A of the CrPC was served only after he was already detained. Despite his clean antecedents, police records falsely marked him as a habitual offender likely to abscond, the court noted.
Source: Bar and Bench
The bench said Sub-Inspector Mahesh Lamkhade had abused his official powers to falsely implicate Agrwal in the extortion case under Section 384 of the IPC. 'Clearly this is a case of sheer abuse of process by the developer in collusion with the police. It is a classic case where a police sub inspector has exploited his official position and weaponised police machinery at his command, to advance the developer's interest against the petitioner,' the court held, adding that it felt 'a sense of deep anguish' imagining what he went through.
The court also held the magistrate of Mumbai's 64th Court responsible for the wrongful detention, noting that no reasons were recorded for continuing his remand on August 5, 8 and 10, 2017, and that the magistrate had failed to apply his mind independently and adopted a very casual approach.
The State has been directed to initiate strict action, including immediate suspension, against all the concerned police officers, and to recover the proportionate compensation from their salaries if so advised. The bench also directed that the judgment be placed before the High Court's Administrative Committee for appropriate action against the magistrate(s) of the 64th Court. The case is Bipin Satish Chandra Agrwal vs State of Maharashtra, Writ Petition 4458 of 2017; Agrwal appeared in person, while Additional Public Prosecutor Jayesh Yagnik represented the State.