Bhoiwada Police ill-treat lawyer for making affidavit of an accused

Suspicious action by Bhoiwada (Mumbai) Police

Mumbai – Instead of searching for the accused in a fraud case, the BhoiwadaPolice made a strange and suspicious act of implicating the advocate who had prepared the affidavit for the accused. Though advocate Anesh Paralkar’s name was not even present in the ‘FIR’ (First Information Report), the Police summoned him to the Police station for 3 days and kept him sitting for hours and treated him like a criminal. The Police forcibly took away his mobile phone and threatened him with arrest. In this regard, the founder member of Hindu VidhidnyaParishad, advocate (retd) Suresh Kulkarni, advocate Prakash Sankpal and advocate YutikaSankpal applied for anticipatory bail in the Mumbai Sessions Court. The Court recently granted interim bail to advocate Anesh Paralkar, and the next hearing is on March 30th.

The government advocate was absent during the hearing in the Court. Advocate (Retd.) Suresh Kulkarni, while appearing on behalf of Advocate Anesh Paralkar, said, “According to the ‘Advocates Act, 1961’, the Police cannot demand the conversation between the party and the advocate. The proposed law of 2021, namely the ‘Advocates Protection Act’, protects the rights of advocates.”

Police make Paralkar sit in the Police station for hours and threaten him with arrest

“In this case, the BhoiwadaPolice summoned advocate Anesh Paralkar to the Police station for 3 days, i.e. on March 13th, 14th and 16th, and treated him like a criminal. They also threatened to arrest him and revoke his license,” informed advocate (Retd.) Suresh Kulkarni.

What is the matter ?

In 2024, a woman named Shruti Parab gave a hall to a person named Ashish More from Mumbai to run. For this, she took 8.5 lakh rupees from him. Shruti Parab filed an affidavit to show that this hall was in her name. When it was found that the hall was not actually in Shruti Parab’s name, More asked Shruti Parab to return his money. Shruti Parab gave a cheque to Ashish More; however, before it could be cashed, Shruti Parab stopped the cheque by sending ‘stop payment’ letter to the bank. Since the money was not received despite repeated demands, Ashish More filed a complaint at KalachowkiPolice station on December 23rd, 2024. Since Shruti Parab’s name was on the affidavit submitted, the Police tried to implicate advocate Anesh Paralkar in the case.

Arresting a lawyer based on his signature on affidavit is suspicious : Advocate (Retd.) Suresh Kulkarni, Hindu VidhidnyaParishad

Since this incident took place in the jurisdiction of Kalachowki Police station, Ashish More had filed a complaint with the Kalachowki Police in December 2024. Although the complaint was not transferred from Kalachowki Police station to Bhoiwada Police station, Ashish More filed the same complaint at Bhoiwada Police station after a year and a half. Interestingly, what happened after the complaint filed at Kalachowki Police station was not even mentioned in the complaint filed at Bhoiwada Police station. In the crime registered by Ashish More, it is mentioned that his neighbour, Vandana Gondhale, introduced him to Shruti Parab. In the conversation between Vandana Gondhale, Ashish More and Shruti Parab, the name of advocate Anesh Paralkar is not even mentioned. Therefore, if the Police wanted to investigate, then accused number two Vandana Gondhale should have been summoned. How can they call advocate Anesh Paralkar for questioning ? This is suspicious. If a lawyer provides information or signs an affidavit; will the Police arrest him ? It is wrong to humiliate an advocate by calling him to the Police station like a criminal.

A complaint will be sent to the Home Minister

If someone stops the cheque, a criminal case can be registered under the ‘Negotiable Instruments Act’ (the law for action if the cheque is stopped despite the money payable). Despite Shruti Parab stopping the cheque in this way, Ashish More did not file a complaint at the Police station; however, he filed a new complaint at the Bhoiwada Police station. This is suspicious and serious. Advocate (Retd.) Suresh Kulkarni said, ‘I will file a complaint with the State Chief Minister and Home Minister Devendra Fadnavis in this matter.’

Editorial Perspective

As per Maharashtra Police’s motto ‘Sadrakshanay Khalnigrahanay’ (To protect the good and destroy the evil), the Police should support the good and scare the bad. On the contrary, if Police exploit good people, they should be called goons fed using taxpayers’ money.