A magisterial court in Kalol issued a non-bailable warrant against businessman and former chancellor of Maulana Azad National Urdu University Zafar Sareshwala and his son Habib for not appearing before the court in response to a criminal case filed against them for dishonouring the cheques under the Negotiable Instruments Act.
The court of Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Prem H Singh acted upon a complaint filed by one Ridham Seth against Parsoli Motors Works Pvt Ltd and its directors Talha Yunus Sareshwala, Umar Uvesh Sareshwala, Habib Zafar Sareshwala, Uvesh Yunus Sareshwala and Zafar Yunus Sareshwala in the year 2019 for the dishonour of cheques.
The court directed the Regional Passport Office, Ahmedabad, to initiate the process of impounding Habib’s passport and submit a compliance report within 10 days while ordering Zafar to deposit his passport within two days.
On July 17, Sareshwala submitted a certificate issued by an Ahmedabad-based medical practitioner Dr MG Anarwala (dated July 1, 2022) advising him not to travel or take exertion for seven weeks. The court granted him an exemption to appear in person. However, during the said period he attended several public programmes and also attended live debates on news channels. Thus, he submitted a fabricated certificate before the court intending to seek exemption from appearance.
The court also took note of the fact that Zafar Sareshwala took an exemption from appearing before the court by submitting a Covid positive report from Thyrocare of Navi Mumbai on June 16. However, there was no record that he took treatment.
While considering the conduct of Zafar Sareshwala and his son, the court order mentioned that it seems the two want to delay the proceedings of the case by hook or crook. Therefore, delay tactics as adopted by them by not remaining present before the court is required to be curtailed. Habib travelled abroad without informing or taking prior permission from the court and has not disclosed any facts about when he will return from Dubai.
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