Lucknow, Dec 25 The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court has quashed criminal proceedings against international shooter Vartika Singh in a case alleging preparation of forged letters at the behest of a Union Cabinet minister.
A bench headed by Justice Rajeev Singh on December 19 observed, "There is no evidence of cheating against the applicant, Vartika Singh, in the entire material available before the court."
The documents which were forwarded to her were also provided to the officials and other dignitaries for an enquiry. However, no enquiry was made as to who had prepared the fake documents, the court held.
In the same matter, the investigating officer filed a closure report after no alleged offence was made out against Vartika Singh, the court noted.
Consequently, the court held that the ongoing criminal proceedings against Vartika Singh were liable to be set aside.
The incident occurred in April 2020, when Rajneesh Singh, claiming to be close to the secretary of the then cabinet minister Smriti Irani, allegedly lured Vartika Singh and promised to nominate her as a member of the National Commission for Women, New Delhi.
According to her lawyers, Rajneesh Singh shared unsigned documents with the international shooter over WhatsApp, indicating her appointment and later demanded Rs 25 Lakh from her.
When she refused to pay the money, a case was lodged against her in 2020 under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code at Musafirkhana police station in Amethi district, her lawyers said.
After the investigation, police filed a chargesheet against her, and a judicial magistrate had issued a process for her trial.
Challenging the proceedings, her counsel, Mahendra Bahadur Singh and Rohit Kumar Tripathi, argued that she was falsely implicated after refusing to pay Rs 25 lakh to Rajneesh Singh for the alleged appointment.
They contended that Vartika Singh had handed over the documents to the police, and without an enquiry to identify the person behind the fraudulently prepared documents, a chargesheet was filed against her without any evidence.
Vartika Singh v. State of U.P., (Allahabad)(Lucknow) : Law Finder Doc Id # 2825948
