Osho will case: Bombay High Court slams Pune police for delay in probe
The bench also said the investigation was being carried out in a casual manner and a senior police officer should remain present in the court to provide details of the probe.
The Bombay High Court on Friday rapped the Pune police for delaying the investigation to ascertain whether the signature on the will of late spiritual guru Osho was genuine.
A division bench of justices Naresh Patil and Prakash Naik said, "As per the government expert, he cannot give any opinion on the signature on the Xerox copy of the true copy of the will produced before him. This has been given in 2013. Since then, no further investigation was carried out. Is there any outer limit to complete this probe?"
The bench also said the investigation was being carried out in a casual manner and a senior police officer should remain present in the court to provide details of the probe. The bench made these observations while hearing a petition filed by Osho disciple Yogesh Thakkar, who has moved the high court seeking transfer of investigation into the First Information Report (FIR) filed by him in 2013 to the Central Bureau of Investigations (CBI). Thakkar has contended that the probe was not heading in any way.
Meanwhile, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) also informed the court that it is also probing the allegations of Osho Ashram funds being diverted outside India. The police informed the court that it would follow up on the Letter Rogatory sent to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on seeking to produce the original will from a court in Spain.
Appearing for Thakkar, advocate Pradeep Havnur argued that investigations were pending for a long time and also produced a report of an individual expert, claiming the signature on the will was forged.
Havnur said the FIR was filed under sections 465, 467 and 471 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) that pertain to punishment for forgery, forgery of valuable security, will' and using a forged document as genuine.
The petition said some foreigners have systematically smuggled and siphoned off Osho's work, articles and yogic meditation techniques. These works, besides huge monetary considerations, are a rare spiritual heritage of India.