Pre-arrest plea rejected as CBI says applicant is not accused

A CBI court here has rejected a pre-arrest bail plea of two persons in a case where it is alleged that a developer forged a letter by the Prime Minister's Office to expedite a redevelopment project.

The CBI registered a case after it came to light that a letter addressed to Maharashtra chief minister, purportedly signed by a joint secretary in the PMO and dated November 27, 2017, was a forgery.

The letter said that the authorities should help the Navi Mumbai-based real estate firm Vilayati Ram Mittal(VRM) in connection with redevelopment project in suburban Bandra because the local authorities were biased.

Assistant Director, PMO, P K Issar approached the CBI in April 2018 with a complaint alleging that the letter had been forged, and the PMO had sent no such letter.

GobindMittal -- son of the owner of the firm -- had filed an anticipatory bail application before the CBI Judge A SSayyad.

He was summoned by the probe agency for questioning, and as his father had been arrested in the case, he too feared arrest, the plea said.

He had nothing to do with the alleged forgery, it claimed.

But the CBI told the court that Gobind Mittal is not an accused, and his fear of arrest was unwarranted.

The court, therefore, rejected the anticipatory bail plea of Gobind, and similar plea filed by Vinod Saraf, a non- executive partner of VRM on the same grounds.