Nagpur court grants bail to former Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis in poll affidavit case

Nagpur court grants bail to former Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis in poll affidavit case

A Nagpur court on Thursday granted bail to former Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis in a case of allegedly concealing information about two criminal matters against him in an election affidavit.

Fadnavis appeared before the court after being granted exemption from appearance on four earlier occasions.

He was granted bail on a personal bond of Rs 15,000.

A city-based lawyer Satish Uke has filed an application in the court seeking that criminal proceedings be initiated against Fadnavis for not disclosing all criminal cases in his nomination papers in 2014.

Cases of cheating and forgery were filed against Fadnavis in 1996 and 1998, but charges were not framed in both the matters. Uke alleged that Fadnavis did not disclose this information in his election affidavits during 2014 assembly election which he contested from South West Nagpur constituency.

Uke claimed that Fadnavis had filed his affidavit in Form 26 in 2014 as he filed nomination papers in which he concealed two pending criminal cases.

His plea was dismissed by a lower court, a decision upheld by the Bombay High Court.

Uke moved the Supreme Court which overturned the high court order on October 1 and directed the magistrate's court to go ahead with the application.

On November 1, the magistrate's court restored Uke's application and said on November 4 that the case would be held as a summary criminal case.