HC denies anticipatory bail to former MP who misused government letterheads

MUMBAI: The Bombay high court on Wednesday rejected the anticipatory bail of Harinarayan Bhagirathi Rajbhar, a former Member of Parliament from UP, accused of misusing government letterheads for job appointments, granting fake government certificates for jobs, and the central government’s emblem. Noting the extent of the fraud, the court denied him bail.

The case stems from a January 16 complaint filed by Devendra Singh, who runs Ashray, an NGO, in Thane. In August 2020, Singh’s acquaintances visited his office and informed that his friend had recommended his name for the post of chairmanship in the MSME Export Promotion Council, a private company, in Maharashtra. Following this, on November 9, 2020, Rajbhar, also an active member of Bhartiya Janata Party, Rashtriya Parishad, and Pradesh Karya Samiti, signed an order letter that appointed Singh to the position.

Singh alleged that Rajbhar signed the letter as the Chairman of MSME EPC. The name and address on the bottom of the appointment letter belongs to MSME Export Promotion Council, a private company. However, the letterhead and emblem of the central government used falsely shows the appointment to be issued by the government. Singh was given an ID card for being the chairman, which also had the emblem on it.

Appearing for the NGO, which acts as the intervener, advocate Prashant Pandey submitted that Rajbhar had also introduced him to a sitting MP and directed him to gift a Fortuner, a luxury SUV, as a bribe to speed up his appointment process.

Representing Rajbhar, advocate K H Giri submitted that Rajbhar was not paid any amount to produce fake appointments. Rajbhar has barely studied till Class 2 in vernacular medium and hence had a very limited knowledge of the English language, Giri said defending that Rajbhar was not aware of which letterhead he signed. He added that Rajbhar immediately resigned from the post of the Chairman of the MSME Export Promotion Council as soon as he understood the letterhead was misused.

Additional public prosecutor Rutuja A Ambekar submitted that similar complaints of being issued appointment letters with Rajbhar’s signature have been reported in Haryana and Pimpri Chinchwad. “The investigating officer has found 11 appointment letters signed by the present applicant, addressed to different individuals for the post of Chairman of MSME Maharashtra, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu,” she said. She refuted the arguments of Rajbhar being unaware of the fraud, stating that he had not lodged any complaint against the individuals he claimed had misused his signature on the government letterhead.

Citing several high court precedents, the single-judge bench of justice Rajesh Patil denied bail to Rajbhar. The bench noted that the case is not confined to cheating of only one individual, but advances to several victims. Depending on the earlier court’s findings, the documents presented, and the allegations made, the court said, “I am of the view that the present anticipatory bail application requires to be rejected”.

Rajbhar was elected on BJP ticket Sheer (Belthra Road) as an MLA from 1991 to 1992. He was re-elected as MLA from 1996 to 2002 and was a Minister of Jail, Gram Vikas (Rural Development) and Rural Engineering Services. He was then elected as a MP from Ghoshi from 2014 to 2019.