Bombay HC refuses pre-arrest bail to municipal councillor booked for extortion

Ten offences were registered against Dhananjay Gawade, a sitting councillor of Vasai Viral municipal corporation, at various police stations in Palghar and Thane districts

The Bombay high court on Thursday rejected anticipatory bail application of Dhananjay Gawade, a municipal councillor from Nalasopara, who allegedly used information obtained under the Right to Information Act for extorting lakhs of rupees from local builders.

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“In the case in hand, the material clearly suggests and points out his complicity in the offences alleged against him which are serious in nature,” said justice Sandeep Shinde, while rejecting the anticipatory bail plea of the 45-year-old.

Ten offences were registered against Gawade, a sitting councillor of Vasai Viral municipal corporation, at various police stations in Palghar and Thane districts between March 31, 2018 and April 12, 2018.

He had, however, moved the high court for anticipatory bail in all the cases, claiming he was actually a whistleblower who had exposed links between senior civic officials and the builders’ lobby by filing public interest litigations either himself or through his associates seeking the demolition of illegal and unauthorised constructions in Vasai Virar municipal area, but now the police, municipal officers and the builders’ lobby had ganged up against him by filing multiple FIRs.

Justice Sandeep Shinde, however, refused to accept the claim after noticing that “tangible material was available on record, which on evaluation suggested that information in relation to the construction of the building, sought under RTI was allegedly used against erring or offending builders to extort the money from them.

“In other words, the applicant being a city corporator and as it appears, not only he abused the Right to Information Act for his personal gains, but also breached the trust of the citizens who elected him their representative on local municipal authority,” said justice Shinde while rejecting Gawade’s anticipatory bail applications.

The court added that the evidence on record also “disclosed complicity of the officers of the corporation either by extending the protection to unauthorised construction, or turning Nelson’s eye to it.”

“...Not only officers of the corporation, but also editors of local newspapers exploited the situation to gain out of it.”