Special Court rejects NIA’s plea to transfer proceedings of case to Mumbai Court

Staff Reporter

The Special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court on Tuesday rejected the application filed by the NIA to transfer the court proceedings of the Union Minister Nitin Gadkari threat phone call case to NIA’s Mumbai court. The District and Additional Session (NIA) Judge J P Zapate ruled that while the NIA will take over the investigation of the case, the court proceedings will continue to be held in the Nagpur NIA court. The case revolves around alleged threats made to Union Minister Nitin Gadkari via phone calls. It was initially registered by the Dhantoli police under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA). The NIA had subsequently filed two separate FIRs in Mumbai based on the FIRs lodged by the Dhantoli police.

In response, the NIA sought to transfer the UAPA cases registered at the Dhantoli police station to the NIA court in Mumbai. The Nagpur police, on Friday, provided a “No Objection” certificate for the NIA’s demand. Despite this, the Special NIA court in Nagpur declined the application, opting to retain the jurisdiction for conducting the trial. Sources have indicated that the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) had issued a notification directing the NIA to take over the investigation of the case. However, the notification does not specify that the trial must be conducted in the Mumbai court, leaving it open for the Special NIA court in Nagpur to oversee the proceedings.

It is noteworthy that the NIA Mumbai court operates under Section 11 of the NIA Act, while the Special NIA courts in the rest of the state function under Section 22 of the same Act. Jayesh Pujari alias Kantha had made the threat calls to Gadkari’s office after colluding and planning with Bengaluru terror attack case convict Afsar Pasha. It may be mentioned here that Pujari had made a threat call to Gadkari’s public relations office on January 14, demanding Rs 100/- crore and claiming to be a member of the Dawood Ibrahim gang. At that time, he was lodged in the Belgavai jail.

He made another call on March 21, threatening to harm Gadkari if Rs 10 crore were not paid to him. Pujari was arrested and brought to Nagpur on March 28 this year from a jail in Belagavi, while Afsar Pasha was brought to Nagpur on Saturday.