Nagpur: A joint civil judge on Friday cancelled a non-bailable arrest warrant (NBW) issued earlier against former Maharashtra minister and senior Congress leader Ranjit Deshmukh in a cheque dishonour case after accepting the defence argument that he was already granted permanent exemption from personal appearance owing to age and ill health.His counsel, Mohammed Ateeque and Atul Nabira, submitted that the court, in 2020, granted him permanent exemption from personal appearance, considering his age and medical condition. They said the application seeking a warrant “misled the court despite this factual position”. Accepting the submission, the court recalled the NBW issued against Deshmukh.The complaint was filed by Atul Devgade through his counsel, Ibrahim Bakhsh, alleging that directors of Percept Web Solution purchased computer, internet and web-related material from him and issued five cheques worth about ₹11.50 lakh towards payment. None of the cheques were honoured. Despite repeated follow-ups and a legal notice, Devgade approached the court seeking action.According to the complaint, Deshmukh, Pallavi Parekh and Amit Dhupe were directors of the company at the time of the transaction. The accused earlier secured bail in the matter. However, during the pre-trial procedural stage, the complainant’s counsel alleged that the accused were not present before the court as required and sought the issuance of a non-bailable warrant, which the court granted.
