Mrs. V.K. TAHILRAMANI,J.

By this petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, the petitioner - detenu has impugned the detention order dated 20th May, 2010 passed by respondent no.1- Commissioner of Police, Amravati (City), detaining him under Section (1) of Section 3 of the Maharashtra Prevention of Dangerous Activities of Slumlords, Bootleggers, Drug Offenders and Dangerous Persons Act, 1981 [hereinafter referred to as MPDA Act].

2. The detention order along with the grounds of detention was served on the petitioner - detenu on 21/5/2010.

3. Perusal of the detention order shows that it is based on three CRs. and two in-camera statements. The three C.R.S. are C.R. No.364 of 2009, CR. No.86 of 2010 and CR. No.128 of 2010. The CR.'s pertain to two different police stations. The details of the CRs.

are mentioned in para no.5 of the grounds of detention which read as under-

1) P.S. Rajapeth Crime No.364/ 2009. u/s. 394. IPC: Voluntarily causing hurt while committing Robbery.

On 02-12-2009 at about 22.15 Hrs. when complainant Shri. Rahul Panditarao Ingole, age 23 yrs. was shutting down his Maratha Vihar hotel, you along with your other accomplice arrived in front of the hotel on a scooty pep vehicle bearing registration number MH-27-Z-1474. You asked the complainant whom the Hero Honda vehicle belonged to ? And demanded petrol from the complainant. You also threatened complainant on the point of knife and cutoff the petrol pipe of the vehicle and took out petrol from the vehicle. The owner of the motor bike is Amol Nidhanrao Ganorkar who is a friend of the complainant. You broke down the glass of showcase of his hotel with the help of stones. You also tore off the seat cover of the vehicle of friend of complainant and broke down the furniture of the hotel. You also injured the friend of the complainant and ran away. On the complaint lodged by complainant, an offence vide C.R. No.364/2009. u/s. 394 of IPC was registered at Police Station Rajapeth. The information regarding the occurrence of an offence was given to all Police Stations on wireless that criminals have ran away alongwith the vehicle which bears registration No.MH-27-Z-1474.

2) P.S. Frezarpura Crime No.86/ 2010. U/ss.143. 336.504.506. IPC Creating unlawful assembly and threatens the public.

On 14-03-2010 at about 13.45 Hrs. the complainant Prakash Vashtrao Gawande. age 53 yrs. Police Inspector, P.S. Frezarpura received an information through phone from Control Room, Amravati City that without any reason you are creating panic in the minds of people of Prashant Nagar. You and. other accused formed an unlawful assembly holding stones in your hands demanding people to shut down shop and have created terror in the mind of the shops owners. All the shop-keepers were horribly frightened because of you and your unlawful activity and that no one came forward to give complaint against you. So on the complaint of Police Inspector Gawande an offence vide C.R. No.86/2010, U/ss.143, 336, 504, 506 of IPC was registered at Frezarpura Police Station. During investigation, the statements of the shop-keepers were recorded where they stated that you and other accused had gone to close down the market and due to your fear they did not lodge the complaint at the Police Station. You were absconding from the date of occurrence of crime. The criminal act of you has created huge panic in minds of people of Prashant Nagar and that nobody was willing to disclose the name of accused. The media had also taken cognizance of this event. You were arrested on 15-04-2010 at 13.57 Rrs. in the said crime. The case is pending investigation.

3) P.S. Frezarpur Crime No.128/ 2010. u/ss. 399. 402. IPC : Preparing to commit Dacoity and being a part of assembly.

On 07-04-2010 at about 20.25 Hrs. to 21.15 Hrs. Police Sub-Inspector Pradeep Suryavanshi while on patrol in Prashant Nagar area saw that people are running in panic and shutting down their shops. When Police staff reached at the spot they foun