Mumbai Court Acquits Former BJP MP Gopal Shetty In 2004 Police Assault Case

Mumbai: A court here has acquitted BJP leader and former MP Gopal Shetty and another party worker in a 2004 case where they were accused of assaulting and abusing police officials.

Even the investigating officer did not corroborate the allegations made in the First Information Report, noted additional sessions judge Satyanarayan Navander in the judgement passed on July 19. The reasoned order became available on Thursday.

"In light of this, a serious doubt arises regarding the prosecution's case....in the absence of cogent, consistent, and reliable evidence, both the accused are entitled to the benefit of doubt," the court ruled.

As per the prosecution, BJP worker Netaji Shinde was taken to Kasturba Marg police station in suburban Kandivali on September 9, 2004, for probe under the Maharashtra Prevention of Dangerous Activities (MPDA) Act.

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Shetty and Ganesh Khankar, both belonging to the BJP, allegedly stormed into the police station later that night. When a police constable asked them who they were, the duo allegedly pushed him aside while hurling abuse and threatened to "make his life miserable".

They then entered the detection room and allegedly abused the officer present there.

An FIR was registered against them the next day under Indian Penal Code sections 353 (assault or criminal force to deter a public servant from discharge of his duty), 189 (threat of injury to public servant), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace), and 506 (criminal intimidation).

During the trial, the constable -- who was the complainant -- told the court that he was pushed and abused, but during cross-examination he stated that the push might have been unintentional, the accused being in a hurry.

He also did not recall the exact swear-words used by the accused. The court found his testimony "extremely weak and unreliable." Further, the investigating officer testified only about conducting investigation and filing a charge-sheet, without corroborating the allegations of himself being insulted or intimidated despite being present when the incident took place.

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The court noted that the only witness who partly supported the prosecution case was the constable, and "even his testimony was contradictory, vague, and substantially weakened during cross-examination".

Shetty was the MP of Mumbai North constituency twice from 2014 to 2024. Before that he was an MLA.

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