HC discharges BJP leader Chitra Wagh’s husband from corruption case

The Bombay High Court has discharged Kishore Wagh, the husband of a BJP leader, from a bribery case registered in 2016. Wagh was accused of demanding bribes to settle a medical negligence case filed against the hospital where he worked before a consumer commission. The court ruled that there was no evidence to suggest that Wagh had demanded any money from the complainant.

MUMBAI: The Bombay high court (HC) discharged BJP leader Chitra Wagh’s husband Kishore Wagh from a bribery case registered in 2016 for demanding bribes to settle a medical negligence case filed against the hospital where he worked before a consumer commission.

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The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) had registered the case against Kishore in 2016 based on a complaint lodged by Ravindra Navge against him and others - Gajanam Bhagat and Sandesh B Kamble.

It was claimed that Navge’s brother, Sachidanand Navge died eight days after a spinal cord surgery on June 4, 1997, at Mahatma Gandhi Smarak Hospital, Parel. Ravindra claimed that his brother died because of medical negligence and hence he filed a complaint before the State Consumer Commission seeking compensation.

The commission on March 19, 2013, held that the death had occurred on account of negligence on the part of the doctors and directed payment of compensation. The hospital challenged the order before the National Consumer Commission, where they were directed to explore the possibility of an amicable resolution of the issue.

It was alleged that Kishore, who was working as Medical Record Librarian at the hospital, called the complainant in his office and asked him to submit a proposal of ₹15 lakh for compensation and employment for the son of the deceased. It was alleged that to get the proposal approved, a bribe of ₹4 lakh was demanded on behalf of Bhagat, the medical superintendent of the hospital. The complainant then approached the ACB on June 17, 2016, and lodged a complaint.

It was claimed that ACB on the basis of the complaint arranged a trap in which Kamble was arrested while accepting the bribe. Kamble in his statement claimed that he was accepting the bribe on behalf of Bhagat.

Wagh had filed for discharge from the case before the special ACB court. He moved to the high court recently after his plea was rejected. His lawyers Girish Kulkarni, Darshan Juikar and Aditya Mithe argued that there was no evidence to suggest that Wagh had ever demanded any money from the complainant. Besides, they argued that the transcript of the telephonic conversation would show that the accused in fact explained the procedure for settlement of his claims.

An assistant police commissioner, attached to ACB, had in his affidavit in reply to Wagh’s petition admitted that Wagh had not demanded any money.

A bench of justice Bharti Dangre after perusal of the reply of the prosecution and the arguments of the petitioner, observed, “With a specific statement coming from the ACP in the affidavit to the effect that on the day of acceptance, there was no demand by the petitioner, I do not think that the prosecution against the applicant should continue.”

“In the wake of the specific statement made in the affidavit of the ACP, no fruitful purpose will be served by trying the applicant for the charges levelled against him and therefore, he deserves to be discharged,” the court said.