Bombay HC Rejects Pre-Arrest Bail Plea of Woman Booked for Abetting Suicide of Former Corporator

The Bombay High Court on Wednesday rejected the pre-arrest bail plea of Nilima Chavan, a lawyer and a member of Maharashtra State Commission for Protection of Child Rights, booked for allegedly abetting the suicide of Shiv Sena former corporator Sudhir More.

Chavan (53) approached the high court after the sessions court on September 16 rejected her pre-arrest bail petition observing that prima facie there is sufficient material against the lawyer.

More (62) died allegedly by suicide near Ghatkopar railway station on September 1. Based on a complaint filed by his son, an FIR was registered against the accused lawyer under IPC Section 306 (abetment of suicide) at the Kurla police station.

A single bench of Justice NJ Jamadar perused the chats and phone recordings of More and Chavan submitted by the prosecution and stated that there was something that needs to be probed.

The bench rejected Chavan’s anticipatory bail plea.

The police claimed that on the day of the suicide, More and the accused made 56 phone calls, and WhatsApp and video calls to each other.

The police stated that as per the phone call recordings, Chavan had been harassing and blackmailing more claiming that she would kill herself if he did not talk to her.

The calls revealed that there was an ongoing argument between the duo over the past few days and more had spoken to the accused for 2 hours before he died by suicide.

The prosecution has contended that Chavan was interested in contesting the BMC elections, and was demanding tickets from More, leading to a dispute between the two.