Punjab And Haryana HC Refuses To Quash Criminal Proceedings Against Former Haryana Minister

(MENAFN- IANS) Chandigarh, Sep 19 (IANS) The Punjab and Haryana High Court has refused to quash criminal proceedings against former Haryana minister and MLA Subhash Choudhary, his wife, brother, political advisor, and others in a loan fraud case involving the Yamunanagar Central Cooperative Bank.

Chaudhary was a lawmaker from Jagadhari from 1996-2000 and was the Minister of State for Environment. He again got elected from Jagadhari from 2005-2009 in the Congress regime, when he came close to then Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda.

A bench of Justice Tribhuvan Dahiya, while dismissing the petition filed by one of the accused, Deep Chand, under Section 482 Cr.P.C., held that there was sufficient material collected during the investigation, establishing prima facie involvement of the accused in the alleged conspiracy.

The FIR dated October 15, 2018, in Buria in Yamunanagar district invoked charges under Sections 406, 409, 420, 467, 468, 471, 120-B of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). It alleged that the former minister, his family members, and close associates procured agricultural loans of over Rs 71 lakh on the basis of forged documents and manipulated revenue records.

Appearing for the Haryana government, Additional Advocate General Amit Sahni opposed the plea and submitted that the investigation had already been completed, a charge sheet was filed on March 16, 2021, and the trial court had also framed charges against the accused on June 8, 2021. He further submitted that the forging of revenue records for the purpose of availing a loan is an extremely serious matter and "in such cases of forgery, FIRs and charge-sheets ought not to be quashed".

He argued that permitting quashing at this stage would embolden fraudsters and strike at the very root of the justice system.

According to the prosecution, Choudhary, the two-time MLA, along with his wife Kusum Rani, brother Ashok Kumar, then Chairman of Yamunanagar Central Cooperative Bank, and political advisor Deep Chand, conspired to present barren land as fertile cultivable land to secure huge loans. Forged 'jamabandi' and 'girdawari' records were allegedly prepared in connivance with the local patwari.

The loans, once disbursed, were never repaid, causing heavy loss to the cooperative bank.

The court agreed with the state's submissions, observing that the accused had even concocted a false narrative that their land was ravaged by floods to avoid repayment. It held that the fraudulent conspiracy stood well-documented and the offences were clearly made out. Consequently, the petition to quash the FIR and subsequent proceedings was dismissed, paving the way for the trial of the accused.

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