Karnik allowed to operate bank accounts

Mumbai, Apr 17 (UNI) The Bombay High Court today allowed former Maharashtra Public Service Commission (MPSC) chairman Dr Shashikant Karnik, indicted in the 1999 recruitment scam, and his family members to operate their bank accounts.

The court allowed Dr Karnik and his family members to operate all the ten bank accounts, including a public provident fund account, which were attached by the Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) in 2002.

Among the ten different bank accounts, four are in the name of Dr Karnik, two each in the names of his wife Dr Sharmila and son Shailesh, and one each in the name of his daughter Shubhada and son-in-law Mandar Bichu. Their accounts were frozen soon after Dr Karnik was arrested on August 14, 2002, in connection with the MPSC recruitment scam. Dr Karnik, at the time of his arrest, was serving as a member of the Union Public Service Commission.

A division bench of Justice D G Deshpande and Justice Nishita Mhatre accepted the contention of senior counsel C J Sawant and Samir Vaidya, appearing for Dr Karnik, that proper procedure while freezing the bank accounts under section 102 of the Criminal Procedure Code, was not followed.

Terming the action of the then investigating officer as ''wholly illegal and arbitrary'', the court set aside orders of attachment.

While trying to defend the action, Assistant Public Prosecutor D S Mhaispurkar contended that property worth more than three times of Dr Karnik's known source of income had been found with him.

UNI