New Delhi:
The Supreme Court on Tuesday denied the early release on bail to Mohammad Umar, son of former MP Ateeq Ahmad, in a kidnapping and assault case against a businessman in a UP prison, and has said there are “some privileged people” in the country that “the police are unable to catch despite a warrant not available”.
A bench of Judges NV Ramana, Surya Kant and Aniruddha Bose dismissed the petition filed by Umar challenging the Dec. 7, 2020 order of the Allahabad High Court refusing to grant him early bail.
The court said it appears the police (CBI) are not taking action against the accused.
“In this country, there are certain privileged people, whom the police cannot catch despite the warrants not bailable against them,” observed the bench.
Police are unable to execute an unreliable arrest warrant for Umar, he said.
The bench said: “We see no reason to interfere with the challenged order passed by the High Court dismissing the applicant’s second request for interim release. The request for special leave is, therefore, denied.”
During the hearing, senior lawyer PS Patwalia, appearing for Umar, said he was a young law student at a private university and that the allegation against him was that he beat a man from affairs in the prison, where his father was housed.
He maintained that it is not denied that Umar was that day in Deoria prison in Uttar Pradesh when he went to meet his father.
The bench, however, told Mr Patwalia that the police were unable to catch him, so how can they give him early bail in the case.
Mr Patwalia said he was a young boy with no criminal history.
“There may be several cases against his father, but the son does not have a single case against him except this one”, argued the senior lawyer.
The bench, however, refused to accept his claim and rejected Umar’s appeal.
Businessman Mohit Jaiswal filed an FIR on December 28, 2018, alleging that he was kidnapped in Lucknow and taken to the prison where he was assaulted by the imprisoned don, his son and his assistants and was coerced to transfer their business to them.
Lucknow-based real estate agent Mr Jaiswal had alleged he was tortured and forced to transfer five of his businesses on behalf of the former lawmaker.
The companies’ combined assets were worth Rs 45 crore, the FIR said, adding that Ahmad also took Mr. Jaiswal’s car and other property before releasing him.
Following the assault case, on April 23, 2019, the Supreme Court ordered Ahmad’s transfer to a high security prison in Gujarat for kidnapping and assault on Mr. Jaiswal.
Taking good note of the incident, the higher court ordered a CBI investigation into the case.
.
