In a setback to the Maharashtra government, a special court on Saturday rejected its plea to allow withdrawal of charges framed under Terrorist and Disruptive (Prevention) Act against sitting MLA from Ulhasnagar Suresh alias Pappu Kalani.
Designated TADA judge M N Gilani turned down an application filed by the prosecutor on behalf of the state, urging the court to drop TADA charges against Kalani in two murder cases in keeping with the recommendations of the review committee.
Rejecting the government's plea, the Judge Gilani said the allegations in both the murder cases against Kalani are a pointer to the conspiracy hatched to eliminate Anna Shetty and Maruti Dagdu Jadhav.
The confessional statement of Kalani recorded under section 15 of TADA (P) Act is an important piece of evidence and cannot be ignored, the judge felt.
If the government plea to drop charges against Kalani was considered it would hardly serve any public interest or advance course of justice, the judge remarked.
He instead advised the government to render assistance to the court to dispose of the matter expeditiously. Kalani is facing TADA charges for his alleged involvement in the killing of alleged history sheeters Maruti Jadhav and Anna Shetty.
Accepting the recommendations of the review committee set up under TADA (P) Act, the state government had recently dropped charges against Kalani thereby inviting flak from the Bharatiya Janata Party and other opposition parties.
The apex court in the historic Kartar Singh judgement had ordered periodic review of TADA cases by review committees to prevent misuse of the act against persons.
The court also said that the Supreme Court had earlier confirmed the TADA charges against Kalani while hearing his appeal. The state was thus expected to dispose of the matter expeditiously, Judge Gilani added.
Earlier, Manda Jadhav, wife of late Maruti Jadhav had filed an application in the special court opposing the government's decision to drop the charges against Kalani under TADA (P) act.
In her application, she said the case had already been reviewed once. Hence the second review, recently done by the review committee, was illegal according to Supreme Court guidelines, she contended.
Meanwhile, BJP spokesman Prakash Jawdekar welcomed the TADA court's order and said the decision is nothing but 'a slap on the face of the Democratic Front'.
The government's decision to withdraw TADA charges against Kalani has been taken with 'political considerations', the BJP leader alleged.
He said that instead of challenging the TADA court's order in the Supreme Court, the government must display its willingness to take on firmly the criminal elements.
