Pune: Bombay HC Raps Pimpri Chinchwad Police, Terms Sheetal Tejwani’s Arrest in Two Cases Illegal

Pune, 18th April 2026: The Bombay High Court, in an order passed on Friday, termed the arrest of Sheetal Tejwani — one of the key accused in the Mundhwa land deal case allegedly involving associates linked to Deputy CM Ajit Pawar’s son Parth Pawar — illegal on the ground that Pimpri Chinchwad Police had failed to follow due arrest procedure.

Tejwani was directed to be released in two separate cases — one related to the Mundhwa land deal registered at Bavdhan police station and another linked to Seva Vikas Bank registered at Pimpri. In both matters, the court noted Tejwani’s contention that the grounds of arrest were not communicated to her at the time of arrest or before she was produced before the court.

“In the case at hand, it is imperative to note, the failure to furnish the grounds of arrest to the nominated person, deserves consideration through the prism of obtaining custody of the petitioner on the strength of a production warrant. It was essentially a case of transfer of custody. In a situation of the present nature, where the petitioner’s custody was transferred from one crime to another, while the petitioner continued to be detained, the mere intimation of arrest would not be an effective compliance of the mandate under Article 22(1) of the Constitution,” the High Court observed in the case related to the Mundhwa land deal.

Tejwani was already in Pune Police custody in a similar land deal case registered at Khadak police station when investigators sought her custody in the Bavdhan case in December last year. Later, in January this year, she was taken into custody in the Seva Vikas Bank case.

“As noted above, the interval between the time of furnishing the grounds of arrest to the petitioner and her production before the Special Judge was barely one hour and 10 minutes, and below the minimum interval of two hours mandated by the Supreme Court,” the HC bench observed while declaring her arrest illegal in the Seva Vikas Bank case.

The two cases have drawn considerable attention as they were linked to several senior politicians and their associates. The court’s observations have also raised questions over procedural lapses by Pimpri Chinchwad Police while making arrests in sensitive cases.