No coercive action against MLA Darekar, HC tells cops

Mumbai: Justice S K Shinde of Bombay high court on Thursday restrained the police from taking any coercive steps against Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA Pravin Darekar, accused in a Mumbai bank fraud case, till December 2. Darekar was arraigned as an accused in 2015 as chairperson of Mumbai District Central Co-operative Bank. Darekar in a petition filed through advocate Akhilesh Chaubey sought quashing of his prosecution and challenged an October 5 Sessions court order that granted him no relief.The HC after briefly hearing his lawyer Prashant Pandey, with special public prosecutor Prakash Shetty appearing for state and Pradeep Havnur for Pankaj Kotecha, tagged it with another petition filed by co-accused Purushottam Dalvi and posted it for hearing on December 2. Darekar said police submitted a closure report, concluding that there was no criminal offence made out. tnn