Court reserves order on bail pleas of MPSC accused till Apr 19

Mumbai, Apr 17 (UNI) A special Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) court today reseved its order till April 19 on the anticipatory bail pleas of former Police Commissioner Shrikant Bapat and MPSC member Ashok Chitnis who fear their arrest in the 2001 MPSC scam case.

Additional Sessions Judge P N Deshmukh reserved the order till April 19 after hearing the argument of both prosecution, as well as defence advocates.

Additional Public Prosecutor S S Kharmale told the court that both the applicants had allegedly helped three Lohar brothers in 1997 to qualify in the MPSC examination for the post of Deputy Superintendent of Police (DySp).

Defence advocates Shyam Marwadi and Baba Chitnis, who appeared for Bapat and Chitnis, respectively, submitted to the court that case no. 33 of 2002 and case no. seven of 2006 are different and they should be investigated separately.

Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) S B Poojari, who is the investigating officer in CR 33 had summoned Mr Bapat and Mr Chitnis to appear before him for an inquiry, in connection with favouring Lohar brothers in the examination.

Fearing their arrest, both had filed an anticipatory bail application in the special ACB court.

Incidentally, both were members of the MPSC between 1994 and 1999, and are alleged to have played a role in the recruitment of the three Lohar brothers as DySPs.

The MPSC scam came to light in 2001 when it was found that in 1998-99, a racket operated within the Commission favouring the selection of candidates in its examinations.

The three Lohar brothers- Nitin, Manoj and Sunil, all DySps, who were dismissed by the State Government recently were selected through MPSC. They are accused of clearing the MPSC tests by manipulating the results in 1997.

UNI ST KU/GK RL PC1916