HC directs state to file reply by April 27

Mumbai, Apr 25 (UNI) Bombay High Court today directed the Maharashtra government to file a reply by April 27 in response to a bail application moved by Avinash Sanas, former secretary to a minister and also an accused in the multi-crore MPSC scam.

Moving the bail plea before Justice V M Kanade, defence counsel Navin Chomal submitted that the petitioner had been falsely implicated under the Prevention of Corruption Act for possessing assets disproportionate to his known sources of income.

He contended that the petitioner was in jail for the past three and half years and there was no need for custodial interrogation.

The petitioner's family had furnished all the details of his property and income to the investigating officer while Sanas has been in jail, the acknowledgement of which by the anti-corruption bureau was also submitted to the court.

Opposing the plea, Public Prosecutor Madhavi Mhatre contended that the accused's bail plea had earlier been rejected by a special court, holding that there was evidence available against him. She also submitted that the accused had actively participated in the crime and hatched the conspiracy to forge documents of the candidates who appeared in the 1999 MPSC examination.

However, the defence counsel alleged that the police had juggled with the financial statements of the petitioner to prove him guilty of crimes he had not committed. He also pleaded for bail on parity with Baban Kadam, another co-accused, who was recently granted bail by the same court.

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