By IANS,
Ranchi : A Jharkhand court Wednesday directed Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray to appear before it on Nov 28, rejecting his plea for exemption from personal appearance.
“The court rejected Raj Thackeray’s plea seeking exemption from personal appearance and directed him to appear in the court on Nov 28”, Jamshedpur lawyer Sudhir Kumar Pappu, who had filed a case against the MNS chief in a local court, told IANS over telephone.
Pappu had filed a case in Sonari police station of the district on March 11 last year. When the police did not take any action, he then moved the Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) in Jamshedpur March 13.
The CJM’s court had taken cognisance of the complaint April 19 and directed Raj to appear in the court. When he did not comply with the direction, the court had issued an arrest warrant against him in May last year.
The MNS chief then approached the Supreme Court in May last year requesting it to transfer his case from Jamshedpur to Maharashtra, but was told to approach the Jharkhand High Court.
However, he did also did not get any relief from this quarter and Jharkhand HC April 2008 had asked the MNS chief to appear before the Jamshedpur court by June 12.
However, Raj did not appear in the court that time also and a bailable warrant was issued against him June 12 by Judicial Magistrate, Anil Kumar.
Another warrant issued by a different Jamshedpur court is pending against Raj Thackeray. The second case in judicial magistrate A. K. Tewary, relates to complaint filed by another lawyer, Hamid Raza.
The court Monday sought a report on the execution of arrest warrant from Mumbai police. It has also rejected Raj’s plea seeking exemption from personal appearance.
The next hearing in this case will take place Dec 1.