Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, A court here on Saturday declared as illegal the arrest of two directors of Gyanradha Co-operative Multi-State Credit Society in Maharashtra's Beed district in a fraud case and directed that they be arrested if they are not wanted in any other case. So they should be released.
However, the two could not be released as local police arrested them outside the court in another case, their lawyers said.
Beed police had arrested the bank's chairman Suresh Kute and joint director Ashish Patodekar from Hinjewadi near Pune on June 7 on charges of cheating depositors. He was in police custody till 13 June.
Both were under house arrest for the last two days as the court could not decide on the police plea seeking further remand due to multiple applications filed by the accused challenging their arrest.After hearing both sides, Majalgaon additional sessions judge B G Dharmadhikari ruled that the arrest of Kute and Patodekar was "illegal". "If they are not required for any other crime, they should be released immediately," he said in the order.
Advocates Aman Kacheria and Rahul Aggarwal, representing both the accused, said before the court that the arrest of their clients was illegal and bad in law.
He said the arrests violated the guidelines laid down by the Supreme Court as the investigating officer arrested the duo without disclosing "reasons and/or grounds for the arrest".
He argued that the police custody of the bank directors violated their fundamental rights enshrined in the Constitution.But despite the court order, the two directors did not get any relief as, according to their lawyers, the local police took them into custody from outside the court premises in a separate case.
Majalgaon City Police had registered a case against both the bank directors under sections 420 (fraud), 409 (criminal breach of trust) and 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code and the Maharashtra Protection of Depositors' Interests (in Financial Establishments) Act. ,
The action was taken following a complaint by a farmer, who claimed that he had a fixed deposit of around Rs 3.5 lakh with the society, but did not get his money back on maturity.
However, the two could not be released as local police arrested them outside the court in another case, their lawyers said.
Beed police had arrested the bank's chairman Suresh Kute and joint director Ashish Patodekar from Hinjewadi near Pune on June 7 on charges of cheating depositors. He was in police custody till 13 June.
Both were under house arrest for the last two days as the court could not decide on the police plea seeking further remand due to multiple applications filed by the accused challenging their arrest.After hearing both sides, Majalgaon additional sessions judge B G Dharmadhikari ruled that the arrest of Kute and Patodekar was "illegal". "If they are not required for any other crime, they should be released immediately," he said in the order.
Advocates Aman Kacheria and Rahul Aggarwal, representing both the accused, said before the court that the arrest of their clients was illegal and bad in law.
He said the arrests violated the guidelines laid down by the Supreme Court as the investigating officer arrested the duo without disclosing "reasons and/or grounds for the arrest".
He argued that the police custody of the bank directors violated their fundamental rights enshrined in the Constitution.But despite the court order, the two directors did not get any relief as, according to their lawyers, the local police took them into custody from outside the court premises in a separate case.
Majalgaon City Police had registered a case against both the bank directors under sections 420 (fraud), 409 (criminal breach of trust) and 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code and the Maharashtra Protection of Depositors' Interests (in Financial Establishments) Act. ,
The action was taken following a complaint by a farmer, who claimed that he had a fixed deposit of around Rs 3.5 lakh with the society, but did not get his money back on maturity.
