Court Extends Stay on Search Warrant Against Advocate Mehmood Pracha

by Abbas Adil

The Patiala House Court on Friday extended the stay on Delhi Police’s search warrant against advocate Mehmood Pracha, who is representing various accused in the Delhi riots cases, till March 19 after he moved the court against the recent second raid on his office.

On Tuesday, Pracha alleged that around 100 police personnel raided his office in southeast Delhi’s Nizamuddin area about 12.30 p.m.

The search warrant was procured by the police from the court on March 4 to seize the computer with primary evidence as identified on the previous search.

Pracha had told Clarion India that a police team of Special Cell went to conduct raids at his office at a time when he was not present there.

The court had directed the search proceedings be videographed. The investigating officer was directed to carry out the search in the presence of a senior police officer within two weeks of issuance of the search warrant.

On Friday, Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Pankaj Sharma of the Patiala House Court sought a reply from the investigating officer as to how the police wants to retrieve the targeted data from the lawyer’s office computer without creating any “evidentiary vulnerabilities” with regard to his clients’ data.

In his application, Pracha termed the search warrant “illegal and unjustified” saying that the police conducted raids for documents which they already took in their possession in the earlier raid.

He also alleged these raids are being conducted against him because he has “evidence against people associated with Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) for their role in Delhi riots”.

The Delhi Police’s Special Cell had raided the premises of Pracha in December 2020 in a case related to alleged use of forged documents as genuine in judicial records in a Delhi riots case.

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