HC stays FIR against Pune-based whistleblower

Former state revenue minister Eknath Khadse has faced a major blow from the Bombay High Court for unnecessarily forcing the police to register an FIR in a civil matter, dating back to 1985, between Pune-based whistleblower Hemant Gawande and an agricultural college

Hemant Gawande

Former state revenue minister Eknath Khadse has faced a major blow from the Bombay High Court for unnecessarily forcing the police to register an FIR in a civil matter, dating back to 1985, between Pune-based whistleblower Hemant Gawande and an agricultural college.

The court stayed the proceedings related to the case after observing that when Khadse had called the Pune police, they had made a station entry about the fact that they were registering the FIR on the instructions of the minister.

A bench of Justice Abhay Oka and Anuja Prabhudesai were hearing a writ petition for quashing the FIR. The bench observed, “It is clearly mentioned in the station diary that the FIR was registered only after the minister had called.” It further directed Pune’s Shivaji Nagar police to stop probing the case as it had been stayed.

However, Gawande is also the one who had filed a police complaint and a petition in the HC against Khadse as the latter had allegedly usurped a plot of Pune MIDC.

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