AHMEDABAD: Four people attempted suicide by drinking phenyl inside a courtroom of the Gujarat high court on Thursday, as they were upset over anticipatory bail granted to a person accused in a cheating case filed by them.
Jayshree Panchal, her husband Shailesh Panchal, Hardik Patel and Manoj Vaishnav were rushed to a nearby hospital. They were “out of danger”, the hospital authorities said.
The Panchals and the other two had lodged complaints of forgery, cheating and criminal breach of trust against loan consultant Chintan Shah, Colour Mercantile Cooperative Bank’s general manager Kinnar Shah and manager Atul Shah at Anandnagar police station in Ahmedabad on January 13.
The four had approached the bank for loans, which were duly sanctioned, but the accused allegedly siphoned off the disbursed amounts totalling Rs 1.6 crore by forging documents, according to the complaint. Shah had moved the Gujarat high court seeking anticipatory bail in the case.
On Thursday, soon after Justice Nirzar Desai passed the order granting pre-arrest bail to Shah, Jayshree, who was present in the courtroom during the hearing, got up and shouted in protest against the court’s decision. She then took out a bottle of phenyl and started drinking the liquid. The other complainants followed suit.
Police personnel rushed into the courtroom and tried to stop them. The incident was captured on camera as the court proceedings were being live-streamed.
Amid the commotion, the judge left the courtroom.
Advocate Prithvirajsinh Jadeja, president of the Gujarat High Court Advocates Association, said: “A 108 ambulance remains parked in the high court campus for emergencies. All four of them were immediately rushed to hospital for treatment.”
Jayshree Panchal, her husband Shailesh Panchal, Hardik Patel and Manoj Vaishnav were rushed to a nearby hospital. They were “out of danger”, the hospital authorities said.
The Panchals and the other two had lodged complaints of forgery, cheating and criminal breach of trust against loan consultant Chintan Shah, Colour Mercantile Cooperative Bank’s general manager Kinnar Shah and manager Atul Shah at Anandnagar police station in Ahmedabad on January 13.
The four had approached the bank for loans, which were duly sanctioned, but the accused allegedly siphoned off the disbursed amounts totalling Rs 1.6 crore by forging documents, according to the complaint. Shah had moved the Gujarat high court seeking anticipatory bail in the case.
On Thursday, soon after Justice Nirzar Desai passed the order granting pre-arrest bail to Shah, Jayshree, who was present in the courtroom during the hearing, got up and shouted in protest against the court’s decision. She then took out a bottle of phenyl and started drinking the liquid. The other complainants followed suit.
Police personnel rushed into the courtroom and tried to stop them. The incident was captured on camera as the court proceedings were being live-streamed.
Amid the commotion, the judge left the courtroom.
Advocate Prithvirajsinh Jadeja, president of the Gujarat High Court Advocates Association, said: “A 108 ambulance remains parked in the high court campus for emergencies. All four of them were immediately rushed to hospital for treatment.”
