Supreme Court reserves order on Fadnavis's plea over 2014 poll affidavit pending cases

The Supreme Court on Tuesday reserved its verdict on the review petition filed by former Maharashtra Chief Minister and BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis. The plea filed by Fadnavis sought for modification of the top court's previous order asking him to go through a trial for allegedly not disclosing two pending criminal cases against him in his 2014 poll affidavit.

A Top Court Bench headed by Justice Arun Mishra reserved the order on the plea after hearing the detailed set of arguments by the former Maharashtra CM's lawyer Mukul Rohatgi.

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Earlier in October 2019, the top court bench headed by former Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi had set aside the Bombay High Court order for Devendra Fadnavis's alleged concealment of criminal cases against him in his 2014 election documents.  The order was later challenged by Fadnavis in the Supreme Court, by filing a review petition and appealing the top court to reconsider its 2019 order. 

The Bombay High Court had earlier dismissed Satish Ukey's plea, which sought for annulment of Devendra Fadnavis's election to the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly alleging non-disclosure of all pending criminal cases against him. Satish had also knocked the Supreme Court's door to challenge the Bombay High Court's order. Ukey's plea stated that Devendra Fadnavis while filing the nominations in 2009 and 2014 had allegedly suppressed the information regarding two pending criminal cases against him. 

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Nagpur Police delivers the summons 

Earlier in November 2019, the Nagpur Police had delivered a summons, issued by a local court to former Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, in connection with a case where he is accused of concealing information about two criminal matters against him in an election affidavit. The summons was delivered at Fadnavis's house, said an official of Sadar Police Station.

The magistrate's court on November 4, 2019 had stated that the case would be held as a summary criminal case and issued notice. "Process (notice) is issued against accused (Fadnavis) for an offence punishable under section 125A of Representation of People Act, 1951," magistrate S D Mehta said. Cases of cheating and forgery were filed against Fadnavis in 1996 and 1998, but charges were not framed in both the matters. 

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(With inputs from ANI)