2 days police custody remand for Mickey Bakshi, co-accused in Mate murder case

NAGPUR: The counsel of Mickey Bakshi, facing kidnapping and murder charges along with two others, made an innovative application before the magistrate on Sunday. They offered to agree to two days of police custody remand to 'ensure a fair investigation into the murder allegations'.
Advocate Prakash Jaiswal, representing Bakshi, admitted a 'few slaps' between Bakshi and Mate, but argued strongly against his client's role in the murder of NCP leader Ganesh Mate.
Holiday court magistrate NH Tikhe heard Jaiswal and Sadar police inspector Rajratna Bansod before granting Bakshi and his co-accused Yogesh Chokse and Kamaljeet Singh Mangat custody remand up to June 27. Bansod had asked for seven days PCR on grounds of investigating the case properly.
With an expression of apprehension, security service agency owner and president of socio-political forum 'Youth Force' Bakshi's only reaction in court was to say a prompt animated 'no' when the magistrate asked of he had any complaints against the police. His short visit to the court ended with the police van driving him away to Sadar police station with Bakshi waving to friends and supporters.
Mate's body was found on the railway tracks near Kalamna yard early on Friday morning. He had left his home at Kanhan for Bakshi's Sadar-based office. Mate's son Swapnil had claimed that his father was abducted and killed by Bakshi.
Swapnil told police that their driver Gendlal and relative Gulchand Kukade had been driven away by Bakshi, who had also taken his father's car keys. Later, they had spotted the car being driven out from Bakshi's office but Mate was not seen.
Jaiswal argued that Mangat had nothing to do with the murder and was a friend of Chokse, who is a broker in the real estate business. A person identified as Neeraj had introduced Mate to Bakshi. Mate induced Bakshi to purchase an agricultural plot measuring 2.5 acres for around Rs 30 lakhs, despite knowing that the owner of the property Gawande had already sold the plot to Adivashi Gruh Nirman Santhan in the early 80s.
Gawande was convinced by Mate that he could sell the property to Bakshi since the mutation had not been done after the earlier deal. Mate had given Rs 14 lakh to Gawande from the amount Bakshi paid for the plot. Bakshi was upset when he came to know about the facts.
Jaiswal told the court that Bakshi had summoned Gawande and his wife along with Mate to resolve the deadlock. While Gawande agreed to return the amount, Mate wanted some months to settle the amount. "Mate was a regular at Bakshi's office and yet he committed the fraud," said Jaiswal.
The defence argued that Mate took Bakshi in his car, which was driven by Chokse, to Mansar and Pauni. Bakshi left the place after they went to an eatery. Yogesh was with Mate and they headed to Neeraj's place. Later, Mate took Chokse to Kalamna, where Gawande's relative Dattatreya Umale stays.
Jaiswal said that Mangat came to pick up Chokse from Kalamna. Chokse, Umale and Mate then went to the pan kiosk where the deceased's car was found later. Chokse and Mangat left the place, leaving Mate waiting for his driver there. Later, Umale came back and spotted Mate still waiting alone. Jaiswal claimed that his clients had no clue what happened with Mate thereafter and how his body reached the railway tracks.