Mohan Delkar suicide case: Collector moves Bombay High Court to get FIR quashed

Bombay High Court. File pic

Sandeep Kumar Singh, the collector of Dadra and Nagar Haveli, has moved the Bombay High Court seeking quashing of the FIR against him in the case related to the alleged suicide of MP Mohan Delkar. The petition was heard by a bench of Justices S S Shinde and Manish Pitale on Wednesday.

The FIR that names him as one of the accused in the case of abetment to suicide was "baseless", the plea said. Delkar, a Member of Parliament from the Union Territory, allegedly died by suicide in a hotel in Mumbai last month. A suicide note was also found at the spot.

An FIR was registered by Mumbai police on a complaint by his son Abhinav who alleged that Delkar was being harassed by the UT''s administrator Praful Kheda Patel and local government officials because they wanted him to stop contesting election and to take control of his college.

In his petition filed through senior advocate Amit Desai, Singh said that for establishing 'abetment to suicide'', there has to be a conspiracy or intention to drive a person to suicide, which was not the case here.

Merely on an allegation of harassment, the police can not book someone for abetment to suicide, Desai argued. The petition also contended that there was no specific allegation against Singh in the FIR.

He did not know Delkar personally and the only action concerning the MP he had taken was to conduct an inquiry into a trust that Delkar headed, the plea said.

While the matter is being heard, he should be protected from arrest, it requested the court. The arguments will continue on Thursday.

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