HC rejects transit pre-arrest bail plea of filmmaker booked for sharing Amit Shah’s photograph with arrested IAS officer

By PTI

MUMBAI: The Bombay High Court on Tuesday rejected the transit pre-arrest bail plea filed by filmmaker Avinash Das, who was booked by the Gujarat Police for sharing a photograph of Union Home Minister Amit Shah with Jharkhand cadre IAS officer Pooja Singhal, who was lately arrested by the ED in a cash laundering case.

A trip bench of Justice Bharati Dangre rejected Das’ transit anticipatory bail plea, filed by means of advocate Adil Khatri, and directed the filmmaker to “approach the appropriate forum for relief”.

Justice Dangre stated that Ahmedabad, the place the FIR towards Das was registered, was not too removed from Mumbai.

Das ought to method the court docket involved in Ahmedabad for cover from arrest or every other aid pertaining to the case, the decide stated.

The Enforcement Directorate earlier this month arrested Jharkhand mining secretary Singhal in a case of cash laundering involving alleged diversion of MGNREGA funds, and likewise seized over Rs 18 crore in money from the home of a chartered accountant, allegedly linked to Singhal.

An official from Ahmedabad Police’s Detection of Crime Branch final week stated Das (46) shared the photograph on his Twitter deal with on May 8.

The photograph confirmed Shah and Singhal at a public occasion 5 years in the past, however Das tweeted it to mislead folks and defame the minister’s status, the official had stated.

In the FIR registered by the Ahmedabad police, Das has additionally been booked beneath the Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act and the IT Act, for allegedly insulting the nationwide flag by posting on March 17 a morphed image of a lady carrying a tricolour on his Facebook account.

Das had directed the 2017 movie ‘Anaarkali of Aarah’, starring Swara Bhaskar, Sanjay Mishra and Pankaj Tripathi.