Sanjeev Chawla extradition: HC may pronounce order Wednesday

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday reserved its order on a plea by alleged bookie Sanjeev Chawla who had challenged his 12-day police custody after he was extradited

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday reserved its order on a plea by alleged bookie Sanjeev Chawla who had challenged his 12-day police custody after he was extradited from the United Kingdom in connection with match-fixing. The Ministry of Home Affairs maintained that it had not given any assurances about further investigation.

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Justice Anu Malhotra said that the bench would pronounce the judgment on Thursday after hearing arguments from both the Centre and Chawla’s counsel, who had contended that the Indian government had brought him back to face trial and not for further investigation.

On Wednesday, appearing for the MHA, Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Sanjay Jain, contended that they had not given any assurances about further investigation in the case. He said that Chawla was a criminal fugitive and the UK government had sought certain assurances to extradite him. He said that they (police) could also interrogate him in jail.

“Whatever questioning is done will only be done in Tihar Jail, and if he is to be taken out then proper permission will be taken. All the parameters are there in Tihar Jail which were promised in the assurances letter,” he said.

“We will abide by the assurances given by the Indian government to the UK authorities. We are ready to use the facility of video conferencing to quiz him from Tihar Jail with a person based outside Delhi,” the ASG said.

He said neither the MHA nor the Delhi Police gave any assurance to the UK authorities that no further investigation would be carried out in the case. He said Chawla had not been brought for a picnic to Tihar jail, he had been brought here to be confronted with the evidence collected in the case.

However, countering these submissions, senior advocate Vikas Pahwa told the court that his client could not be interrogated any further because he was brought here to face trial. He contended that in all the letters of assurances, it had been stated that the investigation was complete and the charge sheet had been filed.

Following lengthy arguments, the court reserved the order and is likely to pronounce it today.