Man arrested for trying to grab UNCITA properties granted bail

MUMBAI: The metropolitan magistrate court at Girgaum on Tuesday granted bail to one of the 11 accused booked by the Gamdevi police for allegedly posing as directors of United Church of Northern India Trust Association (UNCITA) and fraudulently trying to takeover properties worth crores of rupees belonging to the Association.
The court granted bail to Arun Kumar Rai, arrested from his residence in West Bengal, observing that the arrest was illegal since he was not informed of the grounds of arrest before he was apprehended.
Advocate Vikram Sutaria and advocate Hrituraj Singh Rajput argued on behalf of Rai that the grounds of the arrest were not furnished to him before his arrest and, thus, the police violated the mandate of law laid down by the Supreme Court in Prabir Purakayastha’s case.
Purkayastha was arrested by Delhi Police with a memo that did not contain a column stating the ‘grounds of arrest’. The Supreme Court, while declaring the arrest unlawful, called for strict adherence to constitutional rights during arrests. It said that although it would appear to be just a procedural infirmity, Article 22(1) of the Constitution has elevated the right of the arrestee to be promptly informed of the grounds of arrest before being detained in custody to be a fundamental right.
The magistrate court granted bail to Rai on the same day that he was produced by the police before it, seeking his custody remand.
The other accused booked in the case are identified as Yohan Immanuel, Tom Molammo, Amit David, Shamik Dasgupta, Rakhi Dasgupta, Aniruddha Deikan, Bhushan Chhanjad, Stephen Singh, Christina Singh, and Minal Chandanani.
According to the police, the accused fraudulently entered their names as board of directors of UNCITA using forged documents on the online portal of the Registrar of Companies (ROC), Mumbai, after getting the names of the original directors removed.
The episode came to light when the Association received an e-mail from the Ministry of Corporate Affairs on August 10, informing them about the change in the status of the company. On 14 August, the Association registered an online and offline complaint with the ROC, stating that the listed names were fraudulently registered.
The FIR registered following a complaint lodged by UNCITA members stated that one Yohaan Immanuel along with two others opened a fake account in the name of the Association in Union Bank of India, Ahmedanagar, and the accused sent a letter to the Bank of Baroda, Gamdevi branch, asking them to debit freeze the savings account, based on which the account was debit frozen.