Fake NBWs issued: Arrested for no crime, it’s “to hell and back” for Kheri brothers
Court clerk registers FIR against unidentified people behind criminal conspiracy to get the duo arrested
It was an instance of “to hell and back” for brothers Prem Chandra and Munna Lal of Lakhimpur Kheri for around 20 hours late last month.
They were arrested for their alleged involvement in two criminal cases which never happened and produced before a Lucknow court in compliance with fake Non-Bailable Warrants (NBW) issued against them, the police later revealed.
Though the duo kept reiterating before police that they were not involved in any offence, the Kheri police presented the NBWs issued against them and asked them to comply with orders.
The mystery behind the NBWs issued against them was unravelled when Kheri police team produced the duo before the court of the Civil Judge of Fast Track Court (FTC) for a women related crime on April 29. It was discovered then that the forged NBW was issued against the brothers and sent to Lakhimpur Kheri superintendent of police (SP) through speed post on April 15 for compliance. The signatures of the court staff mentioned on the NBWs were false.
The court issued their release order nearly 20 hours after their arrest by Kheri police early on April 29. The court also directed the court staff to register an FIR against people behind this criminal conspiracy to get the two brothers arrested.
“The office clerk of the court concerned, Shubham Kumar lodged an FIR under Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita (BNS) sections 318 (4) for cheating, 319 (2) cheating by personation, 336 (3) for forgery by making false NBW and 338 for forgery of a document that purports to be a valuable security against unidentified persons with Wazirganj police station of Lucknow on May 5,” Lucknow’s Wazirganj police station inspector Rajesh Kumar Tripathi said, confirming the incident.
“We too were unaware of the false NBWs as it was delivered to the SP office and reached the Gola police station through the warrant cell,” said sub-inspector (S-I) Nirmal Kumar of Gola police station in Lakhimpur Kheri.
“We arrested the two brothers early morning on April 29 and immediately took them to Lucknow to produce (them) in the court concerned but it was discovered later that the NBWs were fake.”
The Wazirganj inspector informed that the initial investigation revealed that the two crime numbers— 345 of 2024 of Nigoha police stations and 25 of 2024 of Hazratganj police stations– mentioned on the NBWs were false as only crimes up to the number 244 were registered with Nigoha police station in 2024 while crime number 25 registered with Hazartganj police station on January 25, 2024, was related to a traffic violation lodged on the complaint of Integrated Traffic Management System (ITMS) staff Sudhir against 25 traffic violators.
“It means that the incident related to the crime numbers mentioned on the NBWs never happened,” the inspector emphasized.
A court staff member, who asked not to be named, stated that mentioning the wrong crime numbers in NBWs hinted that it is the work of an outsider, who was not aware which crime number is to be mentioned on the warrants, but he was conversant with the court proceedings.
“The police are trying to trace from which post office these two NBWs were sent to the SP Lakhimpur Kheri. Moreover, efforts are on to zero in on the persons who could possibly target the two brothers by sending fake NBWs,” the inspector further stated.
“We would soon zero in on people behind this criminal conspiracy,” he added.
