Nikita Jagganath Shetty @ Nikita Vishwajeet Jadhav Vs State of Maharashtra And Another (Supreme Court of India)
The Supreme Court of India, in Nikita Jagganath Shetty @ Nikita Vishwajeet Jadhav vs. State of Maharashtra and Another, considered appeals challenging the Bombay High Court’s order dated 19th June 2024 granting anticipatory bail to several accused in connection with Crime No. 1-103 of 2023. The appellant-complainant had filed the FIR against her husband, Vishwajeet Vinaykrao Jadhav, and other accused persons, alleging an attempt to forcibly take possession of Hotel Vaishali, a property inherited by her from her father. The appellant-complainant and the accused had developed matrimonial disputes, and the accused had procured a power of attorney and a gift deed transferring the property in his favor. Prior to the FIR, accused-Vishwajeet filed Civil Suit No. 1248 of 2023 and obtained an ex parte interim injunction on 27th June 2023, which allowed him and his accomplices to trespass the hotel, damage property, and tamper with the CCTV system.
The appellant-complainant subsequently challenged this ex parte injunction in Civil Misc. Appeal No. 254 of 2023, which was allowed on 17th August 2023, resulting in the interim order being set aside. Despite this, the accused sought pre-arrest bail in the Sessions Court, which was rejected on 25th August 2023 after noting that accused-Vishwajeet had concealed the setting aside of the injunction while relying on it to seek bail. The accused then approached the High Court via Anticipatory Bail Applications Nos. 3137 of 2023 and 2499 of 2023, which were allowed on 19th December 2024, granting them pre-arrest bail, an order now challenged in the Supreme Court.
