The accused, Sameer Kulkarni, informed the division bench also comprising of Justice Sharmila Deshmukh, that Justice Dere had appeared as a counsel for NIA in 2011 when one the accused had approached the High Court with a petition.
He showed court orders reflecting the same and also apologised for brining it to the notice of the bench at a belated stage, stating he came across the order only recently.
However, NIA counsel Sandesh Patil expressed his ‘no-objection’ to the judge continuing to hear the plea.
However, the judge deemed it fit to recuse from hearing the matters.
Source: Barandbench
