Court defers hearing on Jarange’s plea in cheating case till Oct 19

Pune: A magisterial court on Tuesday deferred the hearing in the 2013 cheating case filed against Maratha quota activist Manoj Jarange and two others. The state prosecution sought time till Oct 19 to file a written response to the discharge plea filed by the activist.Assistant public prosecutor Nilam Yadav said the lawyers representing the legal heir of the complainant, Jarange, and two others during the last hearing had sought time from the magistrate to make an out-of-court settlement in the case.The prosecution has not filed a written response to oppose Jarange's discharge plea when the case came up for hearing because the lawyers again sought time from the magistrate to submit a compromise proposal on the next date of hearing, she said.The police had invoked sections 420 (cheating) and 406 (criminal breach of trust) of the Indian Penal Code in the case. In July, the judicial magistrate first class (JMFC) court had issued a non-bailable warrant (NBW) against Jarange over his failure to appear in person in the matter.In Aug, the court cancelled the NBW after Jarange appeared before the magistrate. At the next hearing on Sept 3, his lawyer Harshad Nimbalkar had filed the discharge plea on the grounds that there was no prima facie case against Jarange and the sections invoked in the case were not applicable to him.