On March 9, Delhi Police’s Special Cell once again raided the office of Advocate Mehmood Pracha who represents many people accused in the Delhi violence. The raid took place in his absence, reported The Wire. His office was searched by the Police for the first time in December last year.
Scroll.in quoted Pracha saying that the search was conducted in his absence as well as the other associates. “Our office was locked and they (the police) knew that I would not be there because I would be undertaking a cross-examination of a Special Cell case only, in which the senior investigating officer is the same. So, they knew that I would not be there. They still chose a date where I will not be there in the office,” he said.
An associate who works at Pracha’s office, told Scroll.in that more than 100 policemen were at the office and the search began at 12.30 in the afternoon. He was quoted saying, “They want the laptops and computers, they are saying they need some meta data of the emails when we are saying we have sent the emails from our email ID, so there is no doubt about it. They are saying they have to take all the computers for this.”
With this latest search, Mehmood Pracha has moved a Delhi court asserting that the purpose of obtaining the search warrant from the court was to yet again threaten, intimidate and frighten him, reported Bar & Bench. His application reads,“It is pertinent to note that yet again, as the previous occasion, the IO has approached this Hon’ble Court directly without even seeking any documents etc. or record from the Accused/Applicant under section 91 CrPC.”
According to a report in Bar & Bench, he assured the court that he would provide specific documents like emails, complaints etc, sought by the investigation agency, and also re-furnish whatever was taken during the previous raid. His plea states, “Although an actually free and fair investigation would reveal the real truth that the present case is completely baseless and has been instituted with the sole objective of hounding the Applicant/Accused at the behest of and as a part of a conspiracy involving senior politicians, bureaucrats and even judicial officers. …as has been previously been submitted during the hearings in this matter, the applicant is going to the extent of risking self-implication even in derogation of his Fundamental Right only for the sake of protecting the data and information pertaining to his clients and briefs (completely unconnected to the allegations being investigated) which is his bounden duty as an advocate, under the law of the land.”
The matter is reportedly to be taken up on March 11 by the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, Patiala House Court.
On December 24, 2020, Pracha had stated that the raid started from noon (12 PM) and continued till 3 AM in the morning on December 25. Thereafter, he had moved the court seeking preservation of copies of the video footage of the raids conducted by Delhi police in his office that was granted by the Magisterial court.
Related:
Adv Mehmood Pracha’s Office raid: Court summons IO for video footage
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