Radio club tussle: Court issues show cause notice to Colaba police

Ravi Goenka. Pic/ Bipin Kokate

The metropolitan magistrate court has pulled up Colaba police in connection with an attempt to murder case registered there against the President of Bombay Presidency Radio Club, Harish Garg, in February.

Issuing a show cause notice to the Colaba police, the additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate HB Sirsalkar has called for a 'status report in respect of the investigation from the concerned Investigating Officer'.

The development took place, in the case which was nearly five months ago, after the complainant Ravi Goenka, the special public prosecutor at Income Tax department of Government of India, approached 8th Court at Esplanade on Wednesday and requested the court to ‘issue a notice to the concerned police station to file their appropriate report related to the case in the time specified by the court'.

Also Read: Radio Club President booked for 'attempting to kill' special public prosecutor

Bhagyashree Gaikwad, the counsel for Goenka, said, "After we submitted our application to the court, the magistrate summoned an officer attached to Colaba police station in regards to the status report. The police officer told the magistrate that the investigation is at an advanced stage."

"However, the court was not convinced and issued a show-cause notice to the Colaba police and asked them to submit a status report from the concerned IO," Gaikwad added.

Also Read: Radio Club tussle: Govt agency to probe top lawyer's corruption charges against Mumbai club

The complainant has a major threat to his life at the hands of the accused. What is surprising is that no arrest has been made in the case till date despite the FIR being registered on February 26 this year after the directive of the court.

"I was compelled, again, to approach the court as there was no development in the case. The accused is a powerful and resourceful person and the Colaba police did not inform me of any development in the FIR registered against Harish Garg, who tried to kill me at the Radio Club in presence of many people. The police should check the CCTV footage and record the statements of eyewitnesses but the cops did not tell me in what line the investigation is being conducted," Goenka told mid-day.

"Initially, the police filed a Non-Cognisable offence but they registered an FIR only after the directive of the court. I am the complainant but the cops are not updating me about anything pertaining to the development in the case," Goenka added.

The senior inspector of Colaba police station Shivaji Phadtare said, "We have received the show cause notice issued by the magistrate. We cannot disclose the development of an investigation. We will tell the court that the investigation is underway."

Catch up on all the latest Crime, National, International and Hatke news here. Also download the new mid-day Android and iOS apps to get latest updates