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Senior advocate Ravi Prakash for Hemant argued EOW’s reply to the plea clearly showed the petitioner was arrested on May 17 at 5:30 pm and was produced before the magistrate after 24 hours
The Bombay High Court on Friday held as “completely illegal” the arrest of Anchor Group director Hemant Jadavji Shah, who was arrested by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Mumbai police earlier this month. It ordered that he be released from Arthur Road jail forthwith.
The agency arrested him for allegedly defrauding his elder brother to the tune of Rs 9 crore while investing the proceedings of the sale of their company Anchor Electricals, which was sold to Panasonic Electricals in 2007.
The HC noted that the petitioner was produced before the magistrate nearly 30 hours after his arrest, which was against legal principles and violated his fundamental rights.
The court further said the EOW officers acted in “unholy haste” in registering the FIR. Hemant Shah (50) was booked under offences of cheating and criminal breach of trust based on the complaint by his brother Mehul Shah.
The alleged financial transactions were undertaken between 2020 and 2025 under the garb of investments in mutual funds to seek higher returns.
A vacation bench of Justices Gauri V Godse and Somasekhar Sundaresan passed an order on Hemant’s plea alleging illegal detention.
Senior advocate Ravi Prakash for Hemant argued EOW’s reply to the plea clearly showed the petitioner was arrested on May 17 at 5:30 pm and was produced before the magistrate after 24 hours, at 11 pm on May 18. The HC noted that while the immigration officers detained him on May 17 evening, they handed over his custody to EOW at 4 am on May 18.
Prakash submitted that the detention of the petitioner by immigration officers and producing him before the magistrate after almost 30 hours would render his arrest illegal.
The bench perused the remand report and noted that the petitioner was taken into custody by the immigration officers at IGI Airport in Delhi and custody continued till EOW officers reached the airport and he was handed over to them at Delhi airport.
Therefore, the HC “did not find any substance” in Mehul’s submission that the immigration officers cannot be termed as authorised officers for arresting the petitioner or to take him into custody.
“Thus, we are of the view that there is breach of the requirements under Section 48 (obligation of person making arrest to inform about the same to relative or friend) of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) and the continuation in custody without producing him before the nearest magistrate within the stipulated time of 24 hours as is completely illegal and it infringes the fundamental rights under Article 22 (2) of the Constitution,” the bench noted in its order.
It also held that the illegal detention violated the petitioner’s right to liberty under Article 21 of the Constitution. The HC said it would refrain from expressing comments on “unholy haste shown by the officers in registering FIR post midnight at 2 14 am on May 14 and also in issuing Look Out Circular (LOC) on the same day”.
“Considering the nature of the dispute and the allegations made against the petitioner, we did not find that there was any such hurry to initiate action to take the petitioner into custody with such zeal and enthusiasm. In view of the well settled legal principles, we have no manner of doubt in concluding that the petitioner’s arrest is illegal for non-compliance of the provisions of law,” the HC said and allowed his plea.
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