The Bombay High Court on Thursday quashed the First Information Report (FIR) registered against the administrator of Dadra and Nagar Haveli Union Territory and eight others for allegedly abetting the suicide of Member of Parliament Mohan Delkar in 2021.
A Division Bench of Justices P.B. Varale and S.D. Kulkarni was hearing pleas filed by the administrator Praful Khoda Patel, former District Collector Sandeep Singh, former Superintendent of Police Sharad Darade, then Deputy Collector Apurva Sharma, Manasvi Jain (Sub-Divisional Officer), Manoj Patel (Police Inspector, Silvassa), Rohit Yadav (official of Dadra Haveli administration), Dilip Patel (a revenue official in Silvassa) and Fattesingh (political leader), to quash the FIR against them.
On February 22, 2021, Delkar, 58, a seven-term parliamentarian, was found dead in a hotel room in Marine Drive. An FIR was registered on March 9, 2021 by the Marine Drive police station under section 306 (abetment to suicide), 506 (criminal intimidation), 389 (putting a person in fear of accusation of offence in order to commit extortion) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of Indian Penal Code and under provisions of the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
The court quashed the FIR and said, “Considering all aspects, we find merit in the petitions... It is a fit case for the court to quash the case to prevent abuse of law.”
