Mumbai courts 2023: Naresh Goyal goes to jail, Sooraj Pancholi acquitted, bail for Elgar accused
Naresh Goyal being sent in judicial custody in a loan fraud case, two accused in the 2018 Elgar Parishad-Maoists links case getting bail, and actor Sooraj Pancholi's acquittal in the Jiah Khan suicide case were among the highlights of the court news from Mumbai in 2023.
On January 2, the Bombay High Court refused to discharge Lt Col Prasad Purohit in the September 2008 Malegaon blast case, noting that he was not performing his official duty — as he claimed in his defence — when he allegedly attended the blast conspiracy meetings.
The recording of evidence in the case was completed before a special NIA court later in the year.
The court is now recording the statements of the seven accused, including Purohit and BJP MP Pragya Thakur.
Also in January, the HC came down heavily on the CBI for the «casual and mechanical» arrest of former ICICI Bank CEO Chanda Kochhar and her husband Deepak Kochhar in a loan fraud case, and granted the couple bail.
In February, the high court dismissed a plea filed by Godrej & Boyce against land acquisition for the Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train, noting that it was a project of national importance which serves public interest.
On February 21, the HC dismissed a public interest litigation seeking action against Union minister Kiren Rijiju and Vice President of India Jagdeep Dhankhar for remarks against the judiciary. Statements of individuals can not erode the Supreme Court's credibility, the HC observed.
In the same month, the HC directed actor Nawazuddin Siddiqui and his estranged wife to resolve their dispute pertaining to their two minor children amicably. Siddiqui had sought a direction to his wife to disclose the children's whereabouts; the couple later informed the HC that they had
