Court issues warrant against Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Haribhau Bagade, seeks appearance

AURANGABAD (MAHARASHTRA): A magistrate's court here has issued a warrant against the Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Haribhau Bagade in a case related to alleged failure to deposit provident fund of employees.

Employees of Deogiri Pratishthan (trust) filed a case against its directors Bagade, Ratnakar Kulkarni and Manohar Deshpande under Section 406 (criminal breach of trust) of the Indian Penal Code in 2006 for not depositing their PF dues in the PF accounts.

Additional chief judicial magistrate Y K More had last week issued a warrant against Bagade and Kulkarni, noting that they had not attended a single hearing in the last two years and the High Court had asked lower courts to expedite the hearing of cases against legislators.

The court sought their presence on February 11. The third accused, Deshpande, has passed away.