The High Court of Punjab and Haryana allowed an appeal seeking the transfer of FIR to the Central Bureau of Investigation or a Special Investigation Team under the supervision of a Senior IPS Officer. The court ruled that there was a need for a thorough investigation due to the involvement of various stakeholders in the system, the shifting stance of the investigating agency, and the abuse of the legal process, stating that it was crucial to prevent the erosion of trust in the legal system and maintain the integrity of the judicial process.
Brief Facts:
The petition has been filed for seeking transfer of FIR to the Central Bureau of Investigation or to a Special Investigation Team under the supervision of a Senior IPS Officer. The petitioner trust purchased various properties from time to time and an imposter trust was created by the accused persons and certain documents were forged and fabricated by these accused persons in an attempt to gain title over the property. The accused filed a civil suit and ad-interim junction was granted by the court.it is also alleged that the accused have adopted illegal measures including forum shopping and flouting the process of law in connivance with an advocate who filed two cases.
Contentions of the Petitioner:
The learned counsel appearing on behalf of the Petitioner contended that both these cases are completely unrelated to the dispute at hand and the respondent who had appeared in the civil suit where strictures were passed by the Civil Court is a practising lawyer at Bathinda who had clandestinely shifted the forum of litigation to Bathinda and that too in one particular Court of respondent judge. It is further contended that three separate and distinct modes have been adopted by accused persons to usurp and grab the property of the petitioner trust which included sending goons and musclemen, by forging and fabricating multiple documents and an active involvement of a lawyer in the matter so as to abuse the process of law by indulging in forum shopping and playing fraud upon the Court
Observations of the court:
The court observed that the involvement of various stakeholders in the system who were expected to be on the right side of the law but were apparently caught on the other is obvious and the advocate admitted that record summoned by him using the process of Court had no relevance to the case and tendered unqualified apology which was rejected by this Court.
The court further observed that the shifting stand of the investigating agency doesn't augur well too when the matter is pending before this Court and It can't be taken lightly more so keeping in view the mode and the manner in which the process of law has been abused. The court further stated that this shows that neither the offence is routine nor the perpetrator can be taken lightly and a huge chunk of land owned by a Charitable Trust situated at the periphery of the city of Chandigarh has now become a prized possession keeping in view the exponential rise in prices of land in the area.
The court held that the abuse of process of law calls for a detailed investigation in the present case so that the trust of the litigants in the system doesn't get eroded and the seriousness of the allegations levelled in the present case, the manner in which legal process has been employed to serve the illegal designs of the troublemakers, and the conduct of the investigating agency in shifting its stand every now and then, this is one of those cases which calls for a thorough and detailed investigation from an independent agency. In the words of the Supreme Court, no offender can be left with the feeling that he can get away with any crime which tarnishes the image not only of the investigating agency but the judicial system as well.
The decision of the Court:
The court allowed the petition.
Case Title: Guru Nanak Vidya Bhandar Trust vs. State of Punjab & ors.
Coram: Hon’ble Mr. Justice Pankaj Jain
Case No.: CRM-M-6340-2023 (O&M)
Advocate for the Petitioner: Mr. R.S. Rai, Mr. P.S. Ahluwalia, Mr. Jagat Vir Singh Dhindsa, Mr. Nitish Pathak, Mr. Sumeet Goel, Mr. Satyaveer Singh, Mr. Tajveer Singh, Mr. Ashish Pundir
Advocate for the Respondent: Mr. Tarun Aggarwal, Mr. Anand Chibber, Ms. Ateevraj, Mr. Nimanyu Gautam
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