IPL spot fixing case: Confusion over jurisdiction issue

An unusual situation was today witnessed in the IPL spot fixing case which reached three different courts due to jurisdiction issue over MCOCA charges, invoked against the accused, including underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, his aide Chhota Shakeel and cricketer S Sreesanth.
Finally after over 90 minutes, which saw lawyers scurrying from one courtroom to another, Additional Sessions Judge Dharmesh Sharma fixed August 26 for hearing the bail pleas of nine accused, including suspended Rajasthan Royals player Ajit Chandila.
The case, which was fixed for arguments on the bail pleas of the nine accused, first came up for hearing before Additional Sessions Judge(ASJ) Daya Prakash but special public prosecutor Rajiv Mohan raised the jurisdiction issue saying the court was not empowered to hear matters under the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA).

The prosecutor told the court that although it has been designated as the special court to deal with cases of special cell of Delhi Police, it lacked jurisdiction to try the cases under the MCOCA. The police has invoked the provisions of MCOCA against all the accused in the IPL spot fixing case.
The case, which was recently transferred to the court of ASJ Prakash, was then transferred to District Judge I S Mehta for clarification on the jurisdiction issue.
The prosecutor and defence counsel, thereafter, appeared before the District Judge for clarification on the issue and after hearing brief submissions, the court transferred the case to Additional Sessions Judge Dharmesh Sharma saying his court was designated to hear the matters under the MCOCA.

After the clarification, the matter was transferred to the court of ASJ Sharma who fixed August 26 for hearing the bail pleas of nine accused.

Besides Chandila, the court would hear the bail pleas of bookies Jitender Kumar Jain, Ashwani Agarwal, Ramesh Vyas, Deepak Kumar, Sunil Bhatia and Firoz Farid Ansari, ex-Ranji player Baburao Yadav and Chandra Prakash Jain alias Chandresh Jain, who was allegedly accepting bets by the name of Jupiter.
These nine accused are presently in judicial custody.
Meanwhile, the Mumbai Police's CID today approached the court seeking transit remand of Chandresh Jain. ASJ Sharma would consider the plea on August 21.