Court junks claim of mistaken identity

Pavankumar Sharma, 54, from Alvar district in Rajasthan approached the city Sessions Court urging it to restrain the police from arresting him in a 33-year-old narcotics case, when one Pavankumar Brahmin was arrested with 15 grams of charas from the metropolitan court’s gate.

Sharma was seeking anticipatory bail from the court claiming that the case registered in 1987 and the chargesheet filed later showed that the accused was 48-year-old then. The original accused must be 80 years old at present and he is only 54 years old.

He submitted that there was a misunderstanding regarding similar names and native place, but he is certainly not the person police were searching for so many years.

Sharma placed his identification cards and certificates in support of his claim that he was born in 1966 and had nothing to do with the matter.

On the other hand, the police admitted before the court that it was a slip of pen that led to the wrong entry in chargesheet about the accused person’s age. Instead of mentioning 28 years, the chargesheet wrongly mentioned 48 years. The accused remained in jail for three years and was released in 1991. At the time of his release on bail, the jail records suggested he was 31 years old.

The investigator from Karanj police station told the court that the accused absconded after bail in 1991. He was traced after so many years. Investigation found that Sharma is a Brahmin and he was trying to take advantage of the mistake committed in the chargesheet. However, the police had in 1991 requested the court to rectify the mistake.

Principal sessions judge S K Baxi rejected Sharma’s application and observed that the investigation revealed that there was only one person living in the village by this name.

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