MUMBAI: The Bombay High Court ruled that the arrest of a builder in three different cases was illegal and violated his fundamental rights, as he was not provided with the grounds for his arrest. The court directed his release.
The Chembur police, Taloja police station, and CBD Belapur police station registered cases of cheating against Lalit Tekchandani of Supreme Builders.
Through his lawyer, Taraq Sayed, he argued that his arrest should be declared illegal since the Chembur Police Station this year, which first arrested him, did so without serving him with the grounds for arrest.
The High Court division bench of Justices Bharati Dangre and Manjusha Deshpande, after also hearing Public Prosecutor H S Venegaonkar and Himanshu Kode for an intervenor, held that the communication of ‘grounds of arrest’ has an avowed purpose.
It enables an accused to know what material the Investigating Officer has, which justifies his arrest and allows him to oppose the remand plea and secure his release on bail. It is a safeguard provided in law that must be availed by the accused when he is shown to be arrested, the High Court said.
