HC quashes two FIRs lodged against BJP MP Nishikant Dubey’s wife
The Jharkhand high court on Thursday quashed two FIRs lodged by the police against BJP’s Godda parliamentarian Nishi Kant Dubey’s wife and her company Online Entertainment Pvt Ltd for allegedly inking illegal land deals
The Jharkhand high court on Thursday quashed two FIRs lodged by the police against BJP’s Godda parliamentarian Nishi Kant Dubey’s wife and her company Online Entertainment Pvt Ltd for allegedly inking illegal land deals.
The matter relates to a complaint lodged by one Vishnukant Jha with the Deoghar town police station on July 13 last year against Dubey’s wife Anamika Gautam and others allegedly for conspiring with government officials to purchase a property named ‘Elokeshi Dham’ worth ₹20 crore at an undervalued rate of ₹3 crore.
Acting on his complaint, the police registered an FIR against Gautam under Sections 420 (cheating), 467 (forgery of valuable security, will, etc.), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating), 120 B (criminal conspiracy) and 34 (common intension) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
A second FIR was lodged by one Kiran Devi on July 16 last year against Online Entertainment Pvt Ltd, represented by Anamika Gautam, and others allegedly for fraud committed in purchase of the aforesaid same piece of land. Devi alleged that she had purchased this land in 1994 and she was in peaceful possession of the property. But, Anakima Gautam had purchased the same property from two other persons in 2019.
Aggrieved by the two FIRs, Gautam moved the Jharkhand high court by filing a petition to quash the criminal proceedings initiated against her.
The bench of justice Ananda Sen on Thursday quashed both the FIRs observing that it came to the notice that none of the documents related to registration of land and others were manufactured.
“...No offence under different sections of the Indian Penal Code is made out from bare perusal of the FIRs...The dispute, if any, is absolutely civil in nature for which a civil suit is already pending between the parties before a competent court. So, continuation of criminal proceeding is sheer abuse of the process of the court,” the bench said in its judgement.
Earlier, Gautam had argued that false and fabricated cases were lodged against her. Moreover, the matter is connected with civil dispute and no criminal offences are made out, she said.