Mumbai Police has issued summons to the former Superintendent of Police, the District Magistrate and the deputy District Magistrate of Dadra and Nagar Haveli, among eight, in the suicide case of MP Mohan Delkar.
The legal summons came almost a year after 58-year-old Delkar, a seven-term Member of Parliament from the Union Territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli, committed suicide in a hotel suite at the Marine Drive area of Mumbai, on February 22, 2021.
On March 9, 2021, Mumbai Police registered an FIR based on a complaint by Delkar’s family members. The FIR was registered by Delkar’s son Abhinav for offences punishable under section 306 (abetment to suicide), 506 (criminal intimidation) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code, along with provisions of the SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act.
The FIR alleged that Delkar had been under pressure for a year and that ‘the Dadra and Nagar Haveli administration’ was continuously harassing him and its administrators had been ill-behaving with him to gain control over the SSR College of Pharmacy and Management and prevent him from contesting further elections.
The filed complaint named Praful Khoda Patel, UT Administrator; Sandeep Singh, then District Collector; Sharad Darade, then Superintendent of Police; Apurva Sharma, then Deputy Collector; Manasvi Jain, Sub Divisional Officer; Manoj Patel, Police Inspector (Silvassa); Rohit Yadav, DNH administrative department official; political leader Fattesingh Chauhan and Dilip Patel, Talathi of Silvassa.
The eight were accused of misusing their posts and power and intentionally conspiring and planning against Delkar. The Special Investigation Team (SIT), which the Maharashtra government formed to probe the matter, wants to question them on the allegations mentioned in the FIR. Joint Commissioner of police Rajkumar Vhatkar is overseeing the probe conducted by the SIT.
All the accused have approached the Bombay High Court to quash the FIR. The High Court is still hearing the case and has told the SIT not to take any coercive action, asking the accused to cooperate in the investigation. The HC is expected to give its decision on Tuesday, February 15.
In the Lok Sabha by-polls held in November 2021, Delkar’s wife Kalaben contested as a Shiv Sena candidate from the Dadra Nagar Haveli constituency. She won the elections with a margin of 51,300 votes against a BJP candidate.
Also Read: Kalaben Delkar Wins DNH By-Poll By Over 50K Votes On Shiv Sena Ticket
