VIJAY DEO JHA
Ranchi, June 30: The Jharkhand High Court on Thursday while hearing the PILs against the chief minister Hemant Soren cautioned the state government should not repudiate the petitioner every time.
The episode took place during the hearing of PILs 4290/2021 and 727/2022 filed by Shiv Shankar Sharma where the petitioner alleged Ranchi police of harassing him.
The petitioner claimed that last year he received a threatening call from one Niraj Kumar who claimed himself as a personnel of the Ranchi police. Responding to this allegation, Kapil Sibal and Advocate General Rajiv Ranjan said that the petitioner is in the habit of making false allegations.
“Mr Kapil Sibal, do you know Chhavi Ranjan (Ranchi DC) had also made the phone call,” said Chief Justice Dr Ravi Ranjan. Chhavi Ranjan had allegedly called the petitioner’s lawyer Rajiv Kumar. The DC called him at his residence and threatened him for pursuing the PILs against the CM.
The Advocate General intervened and said that Chhavi Ranjan had a different case. On this, the Chief Justice said: “Don’t make Gandhi (Mahatma) out of Chhavi Ranjan.
The petitioner in his submission said that he further received the call where he was allegedly threatened for filing PILs against the CM and others. The petitioner said that he informed the matter to the police and expressed concern over his security.
The petitioner said that around 3.30 AM on June 27, an official of Nagri police station came to his residence to inquire whether he was safe or getting a threatening call. He said that by this way the police were trying to browbeat him. Further, the district police in its inquiry concluded that Niraj Kumar was not a policeman and he called the petitioner to check his credentials. The petitioner alleged that while he was worried about his security the police recorded statements of some Mahesh Sharma to hush up the investigation.
