Home / Crime and Justice / Bombay HC Quashes Arrests Due to Missing Arrest Grounds
Bombay HC Quashes Arrests Due to Missing Arrest Grounds
20 Apr
Summary
- High Court found arrests illegal for not informing grounds.
- Two of three criminal case arrests were quashed.
- Trial court downplayed investigators' failure to inform.
In a significant ruling, the Bombay High Court declared the arrests of businesswoman Sheetal Tejwani in two separate criminal cases as illegal. Justice N. J. Jamadar stated on April 17, 2026, that the Pimpri and Bavdhan police failed to adhere to mandatory procedures by not informing Tejwani of the grounds for her arrest.
The court emphasized that this failure rendered her detention unlawful and ordered her immediate release in those two cases. However, the High Court upheld her arrest in a third FIR lodged by the Khadak police station, dismissing her plea against that detention. The Khadak police had initially arrested Tejwani on December 3, 2025.
Tejwani was booked in connection with alleged land deal irregularities involving a firm linked to Parth Pawar, son of the late Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar. The Pimpri police case relates to alleged fraud in the Seva Vikas Cooperative Bank loan scam. The court found clear non-compliance in the Pimpri case where grounds of arrest were not served two hours prior to court production.
The High Court noted that in cases where custody is transferred between different police stations while the individual remains detained, mere intimation of arrest is insufficient. This principle was applied to declare Tejwani's arrest in the Bavdhan police FIR illegal, deeming it a transfer of custody rather than a new arrest procedure.
