Court raps police for flouting rules in Lilavati trust row

The Bombay High Court on Wednesday rapped the Mumbai police for conducting an inquiry before registering an offence of alleged forgery pertaining to the Lilavati Hospital trust.

The Bombay High Court on Wednesday rapped the Mumbai police for conducting an inquiry before registering an offence of alleged forgery pertaining to the Lilavati Hospital trust.

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“Why did you conduct an inquiry? Under what provisions of law you proceeded to inquire into the allegations before registering a first information report [FIR]?” the court asked Additional Public Prosecutor Kumar Saste.

The division bench of Justice AM Khanwilkar and Justice PD Kode asked Saste what a police officer was supposed to do after getting a complaint disclosing a cognisable offence.

The queries came following Saste said the preliminary inquiry, conducted on orders of a joint commissioner of police, revealed the dispute was of civil nature and so no offence was registered.

“Further, no loss has been caused to the trust in the alleged transaction,” he added.

The statement irked the judges, who asked why the police were deciding the fate of the complaint before its registration as an FIR.

The Bombay High Court was hearing a petition filed by one of the Lilavati trustees, Charuben Mehta, who has sought registration of an FIR against some other trustees alleging they had forged an assignment deed under which huge amount was siphoned off from.

Apart from allegations of forgery, she has also alleged that the trustees had committed criminal breach of trust by siphoning of the trust’s money.