Delhi HC rejects plea of former IAS officer seeking quashing of FIR in corruption case

The Delhi High Court has rejected the plea of a former IAS officer seeking the quashing of an FIR filed against him by the Central Bureau of Investigation in a cheating and corruption case while he was Registrar of Cooperative Societies DelhiThe CBI registered the FIR in December 2006This case pertains to the allegations of freezing of the list and expelling members of a society namely the Naval Technical Officers Cooperative Group Housing Society registered with the Registrar of Cooperative Societies RCSJustice Neena Bansal Krishna dismissed the revision petition moved by Gopal Dikshit and said that there is no illegality or perversity in the Order on Charge of the trial courtThe material placed on record by the prosecution including the witness testimonies the noting in the files of the RCS office and the Complaint by Lt Cdr Hukum Singh is sufficient to establish a prima faciecase and raise a grave suspicion against the Petitioner for the offences alleged Justice Krishna said in the judgment on September 26The High Court pointed out that the defences raised by the Petitioner involve disputed questions of fact which are the subject matter of trial There is no illegality or perversity in the impugned Order on Charge of the Learned Additional Sessions Judge ASJThere is no merit in the present Revision Petition which is hereby dismissed Justice Krishna orderedPetitioner Gopal Dikshit had challenged the order on Charge of 25102013 and Charge dated 29102013 framed under Section 120B read with Sections 420 468 471 IPC and Section 132 read with Section 131 of Prevention of Corruption Act 1988 PC Act by the CBI courtIt was alleged that Petitioner while serving as the Registrar of Cooperative Societies Delhi RCS from 09071997 to 11071999 had approved Freeze List of members of the Naval Technical Officers Cooperative Group Housing Society CGHS NTO CGHS and also passed an Order expelling members in violation of the provision of Delhi Cooperative Society Act 1972 and Delhi Gooperative Society Rules 1973 DCS Act and DCS RulesA Preliminary Enquiry was undertaken on which a FIR on 29122006 was registered The petitioner has moved an Application under Section 197 CrPC on 05112009 seeking discharge for want of Sanction However he did not press the same and sought liberty to take the plea at the stage of arguments on the chargeThe Order on charge was challenged on the ground that the relevant documents of NTO CGHS came for approval of the Petitioner only after the verification was done by the subordinate officers namely Inspector Dealing Assistant DA Assistant Registrar AR Deputy Registrar DR and lastly by the Joint Registrar JR of the RCS Delhi and the Petitioner had no reason to doubt the acts of all these officials who are presumed to have done their duty honestly and in good faith unless there are reasons to believe to the contraryIt was contended that the perusal of the documents filed along with the Chargesheet reflects that as per the practice established the documents submitted by the NTO CGHS pertaining to the the Freeze List of members were repeatedly verified by the subordinate officers of the Petitioner and only after thorough verification by them and ensuring all statutory requirements were met the Freeze List of members was sent to the Petitioner for approvalOn the contrary the core of the prosecutions case is that the petitioner did not act in good faith rather it is alleged that he was a conspirator in a scheme to illegally oust original Members and approve a fraudulent list The claim of good faith is a defence that must be proven during the trial and cannot be a threshold bar to the proceedingsThe alleged act of knowingly approving a manipulated list which facilitated the illegal removal of members forms the basis of the conspiracy charge These circumstances when viewed collectively are sufficient to raise a suspicion that the Petitioner was acting in concert with the other coaccused Therefore the material on record is sufficient to frame charges for these offences the High Court saidThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever