HC raps cops on threat calls

JANUARY 19: The Bombay High Court expressed dissatisfaction over the police inquiry report submitted today over a Sena leader's alleged thre...

JANUARY 19: The Bombay High Court expressed dissatisfaction over the police inquiry report submitted today over a Sena leader’s alleged threatening calls to a Bandra couple.

The division bench of Justice A P Shah and Justice S S Parkar posted the hearing on the matter on January 21. Coming down heavily on the gaffes and unanswered questions in the report Justice Shah said the nature and source of the threat call is not yet clear. He said the report seems to be “written by a lawyer than a police officer”.

During the last hearing before the vacations, the Additional Police Commissioner of the Anti-Extortion cell Satyapal Singh had been directed to trace the sources of the threat calls Anthony and Trudy Trindade, especially in the light of allegations of threats coming from the Shiv Sena Bhavan. The BPL mobile company and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL) had also confirmed that the calls were made by Sena leader Vijay Loke from Sena Bhavan.

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The Trindades had alleged that Loke was threatening them over a property dispute in Goa. Loke had filed an affidavit stating that although he had called up Trindades, he did not threaten them. Instead, Loke claimed that Trindades had used the Sena’s “name” to usurp real estate.

The report submitted today did not impress Justice Shah. He asked the public prosecutor I S Thakur if he (Thakur) had read the report. Thakur said the report had been given directly to the court. The court asked him to peruse the report till the next hearing. Justice Shah said the police department seems to hold different standards of investigation depending on different types of citizens.