FIR was lodged at behest of Sanjay Pandey: Tripathi to HC

Mumbai: The vacation bench of the Bombay high court on Friday granted interim protection from arrest to suspended IPS officer DCP Saurabh Tripathi who has been booked in connection with an extortion case

Mumbai: The vacation bench of the Bombay high court on Friday granted interim protection from arrest to suspended IPS officer DCP Saurabh Tripathi who has been booked in connection with an extortion case. Tripathi approached the HC seeking anticipatory bail after a similar application was rejected by the sessions court on October 19.

Mumbai, India - February 28, 2022: Sanjay Pandey, the former acting Director General of Police of Maharashtra takes charge as new Mumbai Police Commissioner, replacing the incumbent Hemant Nagrale at Police Headquarters, in Mumbai, India, on Monday, February 28, 2021. (Photo by Bhushan Koyande/ HT Photo) (HT PHOTO)

According to the application made by Tripathi in HC, an FIR was registered against him on March 9, 2022, following a December 7, 2021, complaint from the Bhuleshwar Angadiya Association. In the first complaint, the association had alleged that some police officers had tried to extort money from them, however, it had not named him.

The application states that the subsequent FIR was registered against him at the behest of Sanjay Pandey, then Commissioner of Police, Mumbai with a prejudiced mind and vendetta against him as he had refused to head the Special Investigation Team against ex-Commissioner of Police Parambir Singh.

The petition states that though no role was ascribed to him in the December 2021 FIR, Pandey had publicly sought to know why he was not made a party after which the March 2022 FIR against him came to be registered by the Crime branch unit DCB-CID at L T Marg police station.

The application states that the then CP himself is involved in many scandalous allegations and for false implications of innocent persons in frivolous cases and was recently arrested by the Enforcement Directorate.

Further, the application states that the charge sheet and supplementary charge sheet have been filed and hence his custodial interrogation is not required, hence he should be granted protection. Tripathi has further assured the court that he is willing to cooperate in the investigation and as other accused in the case have been granted bail he should be protected from being arrested.

Tripathi has also refuted the allegations of absconding and states that he had to go to his native place after the registration of the December 2021 FIR as his father had met with an accident and as he was their primary caretaker he had applied for leave. Thereafter he met with an accident in February 2022 for which he underwent surgery and is under treatment for other ailments as well. He had also suffered from dengue.

After hearing the submissions, the bench said that in light of the assurances given by the applicant it was inclined to grant him protection and directed his release in the event of arrest on a personal bond of ₹25,000. The HC also directed Tripathi to attend the Crime Branch Unit-DCB, CID CIU, Mumbai on 9 November 2022 at 11:00 a.m. and cooperate in the investigation and posted hearing of the application to November 15.