High Court allows Poonam Bhagat to challenge transfer of poisoning case

Poonam Bhagat. File pic

The Poonam Bhagat-Jaidev Shroff divorce saga continues to get murkier by the day. Days after the Khar police filed a chargesheet accusing Poonam of attempting to poison Jaidev, she has in turn accused the cops of working hand-in-glove with her husband to frame her in a false case.

Yesterday, the Bombay High Court granted her temporary relief and stayed the Bandra Magistrate court till December 21 from taking cognisance of the chargesheet filed by the Khar police in the matter. The HC also allowed her to challenge an order by Additional Chief Secretary Home KP Bakshi transferring the investigation back to the Khar police from the Crime Branch.

mid-day had reported in April that Jaidev had alleged that Poonam had poisoned him with the help of a ‘Bengali baba'. After Poonam alleged that the Khar police were unlawfully helping Jaidev by framing her, Bakshi transferred the probe to the Crime Branch.

Despite this, it was the Khar police who filed the chargesheet in court on December 3. Senior counsel Amit Desai, who appeared for Poonam, told the court that she had sent 34 emails to the Mumbai Police, including the CP Datta Padasalgikar and Joint CP Deven Bharti, and she had even got a confirmation of the case being transferred to the Crime Branch.

Surprise transfer
"My client was surprised as she knew the case was transferred from Khar police, but on December 1, she got a letter from Khar police asking her to be present in Bandra court to take the chargesheet," said Desai. Special government pleader Sandeep Shinde told the court that the case had, in fact, not been transferred, as Bakshi wrote to the Khar police on November 29, stating that only the court had the power to enable such a transfer.

To this, Desai responded that he had not received a copy of the letter. He pointed out that the police only received this letter on December 2, so how could they write to Poonam one day before that asking her to appear in court?
"Does this mean they knew something beforehand," he asked the court, adding Bakshi sent the letter the day before his retirement.

The bench, comprising Justice Ranjit More and Dr Shalini Phansalkar Joshi, agreed to this point and gave Poonam the liberty to challenge the circulars issued by Bakshi. Jaidev's counsel Aabad Ponda objected to the court's stay order and also asked that his client be made party to the petition.