File photo
MUMBAI: Bombay HC dismissed Satara additional sessions judge Dhananjay Nikam, and Palghar civil judge (senior division) Irfan Shaikh for serious misconduct.Shaikh, during his stint as additional chief metropolitan magistrate at Ballard Pier court, was involved in a road accident in 2022. Shaikh told TOI over phone that the allegations were baseless. “I will challenge my dismissal in court,” he said.Police registered an FIR under Prevention of Corruption Act, and BNS provisions against Nikam and two others for allegedly demanding Rs 5 lakh bribe from a woman for releasing on bail her father, who was in judicial custody in a cheating case.Nikam moved HC for anticipatory bail. HC, while denying him pre-arrest bail, said, “We have perused the probe papers and, the alleged conversation between Nikam and the complainant. There is a sufficient incriminating material against the applicant to connect him with the crime in question.”“This conduct of the applicant, prima facie, corroborates prosecution case. Considering overall facts and circumstances, I am not inclined to release the applicant on anticipatory bail,” said judge NR Borkar in his March 17 order.
