Chhagan Bhujbal lawyer gets time to consult expert

The Bombay high court on Friday granted time to senior NCP leader Chhagan Bhujbal’s lawyer to a consult a medical officer to understand the technicalities of Bhujbal’s medical report so that he could argue for bail.

After a special PMLA court rejected Bhujbal’s bail application, he approached the high court and claimed that the PMLA court did not take into consideration the medical reports produced by Bhujbal in support of his contention that he was suffering from heart and other ailments and hence should be granted temporary bail on medical grounds.

As special public prosecutor Poornima Kantharia has been opposing the bail plea, Justice A.S. Gadkari, on May 20 directed the Dean of JJ Hospital to form a panel of doctors, which would constitute the Medical Board, to examine Bhujbal. The panel was directed to examine Bhujbal on May 24 and submit its report in a sealed envelope on May 27.

Following this order, the panel submitted its report on Friday but Ms Kantharia, again opposed the bail plea saying considering the panel’s report there is no need to grant bail on medical ground because as per the report, Bhujbal is stable.

However, senior counsel Amit Desai argued that as he was not a doctor, he needed an expert to understand what the report stated.