The Bombay High Court on Tuesday dismissed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) seeking Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Enforcement Directorate (ED) investigation into the alleged disproportionate assets of the Ex-Chief Minister of Maharashtra and Shiv Sena Leader Uddhav Thackeray, his wife and two sons.
In the Public Interest Litigation filed by Gauri Bhide and Abhay Bhideit was alleged that during thelockdown and Corona period,the company ‘Prabodhan Prakashan Pvt Ltd’,which was ownedby the Thackeray familyshowed a turnover of 42 Crores and a profit ofRs.11.5 Crores.
The plea also stated that the PIL was filed to expose the huge money laundering and indiscriminate corruption played by the persons holding very high places as public servants and there were transactions between the company owned by Thackrey’s and the BMC which were mainly benami transactions.
The Senior Counsels AspiChinoy and Ashok Mundargi appearing for the Thackeray’s argued that the PIL had been filed on assumptions and without any factual foundation. “The petition is absolutely bereft of any material and is filed purely on assumptions. The petitioner has an alternate remedy of filing a private complaint before a magistrate’s court seeking police probe”
The Bench of Justices Dheeraj Singh Thakur and Valmiki Sa Menezesobserved that “On a reading of the complaint and the petition, it appears that the Petitioners are only speculating on the sudden rise in the prosperity index of the private Respondents from their humble beginning and, therefore, entertain a suspicion that the life style maintained by the said private Respondents could only be attributed to the corrupt practices in the B.M.C.”
The Court further noted that there is absolutely no evidence or live link between the alleged malpractices in the B.M.C. and private Respondents herein and thus Petitioners thus are attempting to seek a roving probe, monitored by this Court into the suspicions so entertained by the Petitioners based on nothing but bald allegations.
The Court concluded by stating that the petition is an abuse of the process of law and directed the petitioners to deposit Rupees Twenty-five thousand in the Advocates Welfare Fund within a period of two months.
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