Quick Summary: Ameet Savant, involved in a financial scam, faced multiple charges in Goa. The court decided to merge these charges for a single trial, following guidelines from previous Supreme Court rulings.
Ameet Savant, a 47-year-old resident of Goa, found himself in trouble with the law. Accused alongside others, he faced charges related to financial wrongdoing. The case involved several parties, including the Economic Offences Cell and multiple people who complained.
In 2019, a police report was filed against Ameet and others, accusing them of financial fraud. This led to the filing of multiple official documents listing the charges. Initially, there were five of these documents related to the same alleged crime, involving different people who complained but similar wrongdoings.
Ameet's lawyer, Mr. Gaurish Agni, argued that all these cases should be treated as one. He referred to past Supreme Court decisions, emphasizing that multiple charges for the same wrongdoing should be combined to avoid having too many separate trials. The court agreed, referencing several cases, including Abhishek Singh Chauhan v. Union of India.
Judge Valmiki Menezes ruled that all charges against Ameet should be merged into a single trial. The judge highlighted that having separate trials for the same wrongdoing was unnecessary and against previous court guidelines.
"All these charge-sheets would necessarily have to be tried under one trial..."
Apart from the main charges, there was also a case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). The court decided that the PMLA case would be tried separately but would follow the main trial closely.
The court directed that all the evidence and witnesses be combined into one trial under Special Case No.13/2019. A single lawyer for the government will handle the case to ensure consistency.
The court decided to combine all the charges against Ameet into one trial to make the process more efficient and fair. This decision sets an example for handling similar cases in the future.
