A Nagpur court issued a summons against Devendra Fadnavis, the former Chief Minister of Maharashtra, at his residence in Nagpur. The Nagpur Police, on the 28th of November, delivered the summons .
According to the summons, Mr. Fadnavis is accused of hiding information about two criminal cases while filing his nomination papers and affidavit for the 2014 Maharashtra Assembly elections.
A police official of the Sadar Police Station said the local court issued a summons regarding a case filed by Satish Uke, a Nagpur based lawyer.
According to Uke’s petition filed in a Nagpur’s Judicial Magistrate of First Class (NJMF) court, Devendra Fadnavis did not disclose information about two criminal cases of forgery and cheating, of which he was accused. These cases were filed in 1988 and 1996. In his petition, Satish Uke demanded legal proceedings against Mr. Devendra Fadnavis. However, the local court and the Bombay High Court dismissed the plea filed against Mr. Fadnavis and adjourned the case in 2018. Disappointed with the verdict, Mr. Satish Uke approached the Apex Court, following which, on the 1st of October 2019, the SC directed the NJMF to look into the petition and restart the proceedings.
On the 4th of November, the Magistrate Court announced the case to be considered as a summary criminal case and issued a notice to continue legal proceedings against Mr. Devendra Fadnavis. Magistrate S.D. Mehta issued the notice which read, “Process (notice) is issued against accused (Fadnavis) for an offence punishable under Section 125A of the Representation of People Act, 1951(sic.)”
The summons came on the evening of the 28th of November, when the alliance of the Indian National Congress (INC,) the Shiv Sena and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) came in power in Maharashtra.
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