Amruta Fadnavis bribe and extortion case: HC dismisses plea of Anil Jaisinghani against ‘illegal’ arrest

PTI, Apr 3, 2023, 11:25 AM IST

The Bombay High Court on Monday dismissed a petition filed by suspected bookie Anil Jaisinghani challenging his “illegal” arrest in a case of alleged attempt to blackmail and bribe Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis’s wife Amruta Fadnavis.

A division bench headed by Justice A S Gadkari said the plea was dismissed as it was without any merits.

The Malabar Hill police station in south Mumbai had on February 20 registered a First Information Report (FIR) against Anil Jaisinghani and his daughter Aniksha Jaisinghani for allegedly threatening to make public certain audio and video clips that purportedly show Amruta Fadnavis accepting favours from Aniksha.

They were booked for offences under Section 120B (criminal conspiracy) and Section 385 (extortion) of the Indian Penal Code and Sections 8 (induce public servant using corrupt means) and 12 (abetment) of the Prevention of Corruption Act.

Aniksha, who was arrested on March 17, was granted bail in the case on March 27 by a sessions court.

Her father Anil Jaisinghani was later arrested by the Mumbai Police from Gujarat and he is currently in judicial custody.

In his petition in the HC, Anil Jaisinghani claimed he was illegally arrested in the case on March 19 but was not produced before the court within 24 hours as mandated in law.

His advocate Mrigendra Singh had argued that Jaisinghani was produced before the court in Mumbai 36 hours after his arrest.

Singh alleged that everything in the case was being monitored by the complainant’s husband who is the deputy chief minister of Maharashtra.

State Advocate General Birendra Saraf had refuted the allegations and said the police followed all procedures properly and there had been no delay in producing Jaisinghani before the court for remand.

Saraf said the police had merely taken ”possession” of Jaisinghani on March 19 and they wanted to produce him before the competent court in Mumbai.

He said as per the arrest memo, Jaisinghani was arrested on March 20 at 5 pm and was produced before the sessions court on March 21.