Published On : Thu, Jun 30th, 2016

Bail or jail? Final hearing on Ranjit Safelkar’s plea in HC today

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Safelkar-ranjitNagpur: The Nagpur Bench of Bombay High Court will hold a final hearing on the bail application of Kamptee Municipal Council Vice-Chairman Ranjit Safelkar who has been booked on the charges of possessing a pistol, live cartridges and fake stamp papers. Kamptee police had on June 10 seized the arms and bogus stamp papers from Safelkar’s vehicle. Finding the licence of the seized pistol was also forged, the police slapped offences on Safelkar under Arms Act for illegal possession of weapons and and also booked him for fraudulent activities.

Whether the tainted Municipal Council Vice-Chairman Ranjit Safelkar gets bail or jail would be known after the final hearing concludes by evening. Earlier the High Court had granted interim anticipatory bail to Safelkar pending the final hearing.

Safelkar, who was embroiled in controversies on several occasions in the past, is also an office-bearer of Shri Ram Sena, whereas his wife Meena is a Corporator. According to the police records, Safelkar was involved in many serious offences earlier, because of which, he had come under the police scanner.

In the midnight of May 26, a team of the Kamptee police thoroughly checked the vehicle of Safelkar on suspicion and found a pistol ( Guernica Stelin Astra Model 3000 No 674951 ), 14 live cartridges and stamp papers in it. When the Inspector on duty Jayesh Bhandarkar checked the licence of the pistol, he found that the licence had been issued from Mohattipur, Police Station Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh. The fact that Safelkar procured the licence from Gorakhpur while he resides in Kamptee further aroused the suspicion of the police. The police interrogated him, but let him go at that time. When the matter came to the notice of senior cops, a team of Old Kamptee police was dispatched to Gorakhpur for enquiry. Later, it was found out that the licence as well as stamp papers were fake.

This is the second offence against Safelkar registered by the city police in the last few months. He was earlier booked at the Kalmana police station in a case of land grabbing and cheating.