A court in Mumbai refused anticipatory bail to a 60-year-old lawyer accused of abetting the preparation of forged documents of a trust, saying more "care and integrity" was expected from him as he has been practising for thirty years.
The anticipatory bail plea of advocate Ramji Gupta was rejected by additional sessions judge NG Shukla last week.
In the detailed order made available on Monday, the court noted that as per documents placed on record, the trust's chairman, whose signature has been forged, had suffered a fracture and was hospitalized on July 8, 2020.
Thus, it was "highly improbable" that the chairman would have been able to appear at Gupta's office on July 11, 2020, to sign the notary register, the court said.
"It appears that the applicant has been practicing for the last 30 years as a notary. Hence, more care and integrity was expected from the applicant in notarizing the documents in the notary register," the court held.
Gupta has been booked for cheating, forgery and criminal breach of trust by the Economic Offences Wing of Mumbai police.
The prosecution's case centers on a 'conducting agreement' that was allegedly notarized by Gupta on July 11, 2020.
The agreement was purportedly signed by the trust's chairman. However, a per the prosecution, the chairman was hospitalized from July 8, 2020 till his death on August 16, 2020. -- PTI
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