RTO officer, cop in dock for illegally taking away car

MUMBAI: Six years after a regional transport officer and a police inspector hauled a city businessman’s car from his locked bungalow in Andheri, the Bombay high court on Wednesday ordered the state to pay Rs 10,000 as compensation for the “illegal’’ act.
Pulling up the state, a division bench of Justices Abhay Oka and Sambhaji Shinde asked why the duo—RTO officer Anandram Wagle and inspector Shahid Siddiqui, then attached to Meghwadi police station—had not faced any action yet.The court has ordered an inquiry into the actions of the officers and also allowed the state to recover the costs from them as per law. The court was hearing a petition filed by businessman Rajendra Sethi, who runs Popular Cars.
“The action of the officers was totally illegal,” said his counsel Niteen Pradhan. “First of all the RTO does not have the authority to seize cars. Secondly, there was no FIR filed complaining of any criminal offence. The police could not have prepared the seizure panchnama in a locked premises without a first information report or a warrant.”
The case dates back to August 20, 2006, when according to the petition, Sethi and his family were out of town and their house was locked. Wagle and Siddiqui, the petition claims, entered the premises although the gate was locked, broke open the window glass of the car and took the vehicle to the police station. Sethi’s mother and a lawyer, O Pandey, went to the police station to inquire why the car was taken into police custody but were not given any answers. Sethi then moved the high court for the return of the vehicle on August 28. On September 7, the police lodged an FIR against Sethi’s mother and the lawyer for forgery of documents related to the car and obstructing police officers from carrying out their duties.
Advocate Pradhan questioned the police action, which was initiated after Seth filed a petition in the high court. Pradhan pointed out that as per the rules, when enclosed premises have to be searched one of the requirements is that an FIR has to be filed and a magistrate has to issue a warrant. In case the premises are locked, the police have to seal the lock, and paste a notice. The owner of the premises then has to approach the police, who will then break open the seal and search the place. “None of the procedures were followed,” said Pradhan.
The court has scheduled the petition of Sethi’s mother and his advocate for quashing of the charges against them on Thursday.
This is the third such incident of police excess in the past few months where costs have been imposed on the state. In March 2012, the court directed the state to pay Rs 2.75 lakh to SoBo resident Veena Sippy, who was illegally put in the lock-up for a night. Last week, the court asked the state to pay damages of Rs 15,000 to Bhiwandi resident Kadar Solanki for illegally detaining him in the police station for a few hours. Earlier this week, the court in another case where a elderly couple were detained illegally for 36 hours, had asked the state about compensation it would pay in the case.