Sessions Court Rejects Bail Plea of Borivali Lawyer in Forgery Case

A Mumbai sessions court has rejected the second bail application of 33-year-old lawyer Hiral Jadhav from Borivali, who was arrested for allegedly forging a court order to cheat the relative of a murder accused.

The court turned down the plea, observing that the second application was not tenable in law as all grounds had already been considered during the rejection of her first plea. The court also noted that releasing her could lead to tampering with evidence, as material prosecution witnesses are yet to be examined.

According to the case registered by the Crime Branch, Jadhav had promised the wife of a murder accused that she would secure his release on bail. She charged a fee of Rs 65,000, which the complainant paid in August 2022. Jadhav subsequently submitted a bail plea on the accused's behalf.

On August 28, 2022, Jadhav allegedly contacted the complainant and claimed that the Dindoshi court had granted bail for Rs 25,000. She instructed the woman to meet her near the High Court to hand over the money and collect the official documents.

However, when the family submitted the paperwork to prison authorities, officials informed them that the documents were incomplete. When the complainant followed up with Jadhav, the lawyer provided another set of papers and an order, which the prison authorities again refused to accept.

The complainant later verified the status directly with the court, where officials confirmed that the order provided by Jadhav was not genuine. Following this discovery, the woman lodged a formal complaint against Jadhav, leading to her arrest by the Crime Branch.

In her second bail application, Jadhav argued that she had been in custody for one and a half years and that material witnesses had already been examined. The sessions court dismissed these claims, stating that there was no intentional delay caused by the prosecution and that the seriousness of the crime warranted her continued detention.