Thane: Shiv Sena corporator Ramesh Mhatre, accused of assaulting doctors at a civic hospital in Thane district, has been released from jail. Mhatre has now moved to neighbouring Goa to comply with his bail condition of staying outside Maharashtra.
Mhatre walked out of the Adharwadi jail in the Kalyan area on Saturday, a day after the Bombay High Court granted him bail and ordered that the trial be fast-tracked and completed in a time-bound manner.
The politician told reporters that he would be staying at Anjuna in Goa along with three of his supporters, the co-accused in the case.
“The matter is currently sub-judice. I have complete faith in the court and will fully accept whatever verdict the judiciary delivers,” he said, before being escorted into a vehicle.
While granting bail to Mhatre, a bench of Acting Chief Justice Ravindra Ghuge and Justice Gautam Ankhad imposed strict conditions on him and the other accused and ordered them to stay outside Maharashtra until the chargesheet in the case is filed.
“The accused will be allowed to return to Maharashtra only when the trial court frames charges in the case. Even then, they shall not contact the witnesses in the case or tamper with any evidence,” the High Court said.
A court in Thane district had granted bail to Mhatre, a corporator of the Kalyan-Dombivli Municipal Corporation (KDMC), on July 15.
Taking suo motu (on its own) cognisance, the High Court had on July 18 stayed the bail granted by the lower court to Mhatre and asked him to surrender before the police.
The High Court stayed the order passed by the court in Kalyan, calling it “perverse”. It said the magistrate court took the issue very lightly and did not even consider Mhatre’s criminal antecedents.
On July 6, Mhatre and the other accused gathered at a municipal hospital and assaulted the doctors. The incident took place at Shastri Nagar Hospital after family members of a pregnant woman accused the hospital staff of delaying treatment.