Shiv Sena corporator Ramesh Mhatre, accused of assaulting doctors at a civic hospital in Thane district, was released from jail on Saturday and moved to neighbouring Goa in line with a Bombay High Court bail condition requiring him to stay outside Maharashtra.
Mhatre walked out of Adharwadi jail in the Kalyan area a day after the High Court granted him bail. The court also ordered that the trial be fast-tracked and completed in a time-bound manner.
Speaking to reporters before leaving, Mhatre said he would stay in Anjuna in Goa along with three of his supporters, who are co-accused in the case. “The matter is currently sub-judice. I have complete faith in the court and will fully accept whatever verdict the judiciary delivers,” he said before being escorted into a vehicle.
While granting bail to Mhatre, a bench of Acting Chief Justice Ravindra Ghuge and Justice Gautam Ankhad imposed strict conditions on him and the other accused. The High Court said they must stay outside Maharashtra until the chargesheet in the case is filed.
“The accused will be allowed to return to Maharashtra only when the trial court frames charges in the case. Even then, they shall not contact the witnesses in the case or tamper with any evidence,” the High Court said.
A court in Thane district had earlier granted bail to Mhatre, a corporator of the Kalyan-Dombivli Municipal Corporation, on July 15. However, taking suo motu cognisance, the High Court on July 18 stayed that bail and asked him to surrender before the police. The High Court stayed the Kalyan court’s order, calling it “perverse”, and said the magistrate had taken the issue very lightly and had not considered Mhatre’s criminal antecedents.
The case relates to an incident on July 6, when Mhatre and the other accused allegedly gathered at Shastri Nagar Hospital and assaulted doctors. The incident took place after family members of a pregnant woman accused the hospital staff of delaying treatment. With his release from jail, Mhatre has now shifted to Goa as required under the High Court’s bail conditions while the case moves ahead.
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