Navi Mumbai: The Thane Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) on Monday denied the Navi Mumbai police custody of 18 people arrested on Sunday in an alleged Ponzi scheme, and sent them to judicial custody.
The police now plan to appeal against the order in the Thane sessions court, Navi Mumbai Police Commissioner Hemant Nagrale said.
A senior police official, on condition of anonymity, said, “The order received from the CJM does not specify any reason for the decision. It seems that the court is not satisfied about our application for police custody, and we do not understand what it was that our paper work lacked.” The appeal is likely to be filed on Wednesday.
The accused were first presented before the Belapur Judicial Magistrate First Class (JMFC), who refused to hear the case saying that the JMFC did not have the power to hear cases registered under the Prize Chits and Money Circulation Schemes Act. The police then presented the case before the CJM, Thane.
“From the beginning, there was a dispute about jurisdiction. The JMFC said the CJM has the power, and the latter questioned why a Navi Mumbai case is being presented before the CJM. We will apply for a revision of the order at sessions court, and hope to get some relief so that we can proceed with the investigations. This is the first time the police has acted proactively, and the court is not supporting us,” a police official under anonymity said.
The 18 people were arrested on Sunday after Mr. Nagrale, Joint Commissioner Madhukar Pandey, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime Branch) Dileep Sawant and other police officials posed as participants of a seminar of an alleged Ponzi scheme.
