The Allahabad High Court quashed the forgery case against shooter Vartika Singh, ruling she was victim of impersonation scam. The Court noted the scam targeted her for exploitation, confirming that criminal proceedings could not continue against someone misled.
The Allahabad High Court cancelled the criminal proceedings against international shooter and President’s awardee Vartika Singh, concluding that she was a victim of impersonation and a bribery scheme, rather than being guilty of forgery or cheating.
Justice Rajeev Singh’s bench permitted Singh’s petition under Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, thereby nullifying the entirety of the proceedings stemming from a 2021 case linked to Case Crime No. 402 of 2020, registered at the Musafirkhana police station in Amethi.
The FIR had cited multiple serious offenses, including Sections 419, 420, 467, 468, 471, and 120-B of the Indian Penal Code, alongside Sections 66 and 67C of the Information Technology Act, accusing Singh of creating forged documents and utilizing them to harm others’ reputations.
Singh reported that in April 2020, she was approached by one Rajneesh Singh, who reached out to her via social media and phone calls.
He purportedly claimed to have connections with influential political figures, including then-cabinet minister Smriti Zubin Irani, and offered to assist in securing her nomination as a Member of the National Commission for Women.
According to her statement, Rajneesh Singh sent documents through WhatsApp that allegedly contained positive endorsements from high-ranking officials, including letters supposedly directed to the Prime Minister’s Office.
Acting upon his claims, Singh shared her educational and sports credentials, which her father forwarded. However, the court noted that Rajneesh Singh later increased his demands, asking for Rs 25 lakh on November 7, 2020, to secure her appointment.
When Singh refused to comply and sought to verify the authenticity of the documents with government officials, she discovered that no such correspondence or inquiry existed.
Consequently, Singh approached senior officials related to the relevant ministry and the Prime Minister’s Office, as well as sought action through social media. Instead of her complaint being duly investigated, multiple FIRs were filed against her in both Delhi and Uttar Pradesh.
The prosecution in the Amethi case accused Singh of fabricating forged letters to defame others, leading to a charge sheet against her based on this allegation. After reviewing the case diary and evidence, the high court identified significant flaws in the investigation.
It noted that despite the forgery allegations, the Investigating Officer had failed to send the disputed documents to a forensic lab for analysis to determine their origin.
Justice Singh remarked that there was no proof indicating that Singh had authored or forged any of the documents in question. The court also found no material supporting the charge of cheating, especially since Singh presented the documents to authorities for verification rather than for illicit gains.
Citing Supreme Court precedents, including Sheila Sebastian v. R. Jawaharaj and Tuhin Kumar Biswas v. State of West Bengal, the court emphasized that forgery charges cannot be upheld without evidence proving the accused crafted the forged documents.
The court further stated that the investigation seemed to have been conducted in a perfunctory manner, and that Singh was being prosecuted despite being the individual who raised concerns about impersonation and extortion attempts.
Concluding that continuing the criminal proceedings would constitute an abuse of legal processes, the high court granted the application and quashed all proceedings against Vartika Singh.
It is worth mentioning that last year, the high court had dismissed Singh’s plea challenging the Sultanpur Special MP/MLA Court’s October 2022 decision to reject her defamation complaint against BJP leader Smriti Zubin Irani.
Singh had asserted that Irani made defamatory remarks regarding her to print and electronic media, which harmed her reputation.
She claimed that Irani’s statements suggesting her close ties to the Congress party, which purportedly used her as a pawn, negatively impacted her public image.
Singh also alleged collusion between Irani and Vijay Gupta, the minister’s personal secretary, along with Rajneesh Singh, to extort Rs 25 lakh from her in connection with her potential membership on the State Women’s Commission.
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