Mumbai: The city police on Friday told the
Bombay High Court that the stringent MCOCA cannot be invoked
in every case of contract killing.
Former journalist Ketan Tirodkar had filed a petition
saying that Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act, which
was brought in to curb the organised crime, should be used in
every contract killing case.
The city crime branch filed an affidavit in reply,
saying cases such as Congress leader Pawanraje Nimbalkar's
murder, or the fake encounter involving police officer Pradeep
Sharma, do not fulfil the preconditions for MCOCA.
"The cases mentioned by the petitioner do not fit the
provisions of MCOCA which requires that the accused should
have more than two previous charge sheets filed against him,
showing a continuous mode of organised crime syndicate,"
additional public prosecutor Ajay Gadkari told the court.
He added the Nimbalkar murder case was being handled
by CBI and the fake encounter case was being probed by a
special investigations team.
"Thorough investigations were done and the
investigating agencies have applied their mind before deciding
not to apply MCOCA provisions (in these cases)," Gadkari said.
The division bench of justices B H Marlapalle and U D
Salvi has now directed Tirodkar to file his reply within two
weeks.
PTI
First Published: Friday, July 29, 2011, 20:12