A court in Mumbai convicted an advocate in a defamation case filed by an Indian Police Service (IPS) officer, currently serving as Inspector General of Police (IGP) (Establishment) in the Maharashtra State Police. The Court of Metropolitan Magistrate, 64th Court, Esplanade, Mumbai, presided over by Judge Hemanat Joshi, sentenced Advocate Naveen Ramakant Chomal to one month of simple imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 5,000. In default, he will serve an additional seven days of imprisonment. The complainant in the case is K M M Prasanna, IPS, who was the Additional Commissioner of Police (Crime) in Mumbai Police at the time of the incident. He filed a complaint under Section 500 of the Indian Penal Code against Advocate Chomal and Advocate Jayesh Wani. The complainant’s case is that he served as Additional Commissioner of Police, Crime Branch, Mumbai, between 2014 and 2016. On March 10, 2014, Satara police arrested Head Constable Dharmaraj Kalokhe in connection with the possession of approximately 112 kg of narcotic substance. Later, the Marine Drive Police Station transferred Kalokhe to Mumbai and secured a court warrant in relation to the seizure of 11.976 kg of narcotics.

 

On March 25, 2015, Kalokhe was brought before the court and remanded to police custody. During this process, he was not represented by any advocate. However, while Kalokhe was being escorted from the courtroom by the Marine Drive Police, the accused obtained Kalokhe’s signature on a typed application and vakalatnama in the presence of police personnel, with court permission, and submitted it to the court. The application alleged threats to Kalokhe’s life and made defamatory statements against Additional CP Prasanna. Based on this application, Mumbai newspapers published and circulated news that defamed Additional CP Prasanna, referring to alleged interrogations of Kalokhe by Satara police regarding the complainant’s involvement in the crime in Satara which caused irreparable damage to his reputation.

 

Complainant K M M Prasanna raised the matter with the Director General of Police, Maharashtra, who conducted inquiries with Satara police. Satara police confirmed that they had neither interrogated Kalokhe regarding the complainant’s alleged involvement in the crime nor had any occasion to question Kalokhe in relation to it. Subsequently, the present complaint was filed by the complainant under Section 500 of the Indian Penal Code against Advocates Chomal and Wani. Meanwhile, Adv Wani tendered an unconditional apology to K M M Prasanna. In its judgment, the court noted that the allegations leveled against complainant K M M Prasanna were baseless and were included in the application with ulterior motives, likely to influence the investigation. Ultimately, the court convicted Advocate Chomal and sentenced him to one month of simple imprisonment. Advocate Amol Phoujdar represented the complainant.