THE Nagpur Bench of the Bombay High Court has pulled up the Tehsil Police, while hear- ing a petition filed by business- man Gajanan Laxman Khapre in a property dispute case. Thecourtnoted that“there are statements against statements” between the petitioner and the complainants, and said that the policemust act strictly asperlaw instead of acting beyond their limits. Khapre had challenged police notices, asking him to appear with bank statements and documents in connection with a complaint filed by Pornima Chandekar and Pandurang Chandekar. He claimed that, he had legally purchased the prop- erty in 2021 througha registered sale deed and that, the dispute is purely civil in nature. The court observed that, the police had started a pre- liminary inquiry, which “appears to us to be in tune with judgment of the Supreme Court” in the Lalita Kumari vs Government of Uttarv Pradesh case.

 

 

The judg- ment states that, a prelimi- nary inquiry is allowed only in limited situa- tions before registering an FIR. At the same time, the court madeitclear that thepolicemust followdue process.It directed that the matter be handled“in accor- dance with the law laid down in Lalita Kumari’s case”. Importantly, the court pointed out that the complainants had never challenged the sale deed for several years and said that, “inquiry into transfer of consid- eration amount is not open to it, unless law provides otherwise”.

 

The bench also took note of the petitioner’s allegation that a police officer threatened him with arrest and ordered senior officials to examine this com- plaint and inform the petition- er about the decision. The court further directed Khapre toappear before the PI (Crimes), Tehsil Police Station, Nagpur,on March 24 with All necessary documents.

 

This is not just one case where allegations have been raised against the police. In Zone 3 of the city police, many old and disputed cases that were pending for years are now being taken up for quick disposal. Concerns are being raised because, in some cases, the police are registering FIRs even after courts have already passed orders. In one such case, the Pachpaoli Police Station registered an FIR even though the matter had already been settled by the court. The Tehsil Police have deployed some ‘special officials’ for handling of such cases. Sources said that, in this case, even a lower-level police official had clearly mentioned in the inquiry report that no offence was made out. Despite this, an FIR was still registered, raising serious questions about the functioning of the police.