Delhi court issues notice to Patiala jail supdt
A Delhi court has ordered the Patiala jail superintendent to explain his repeated failure to produce before it a couple wanted for their trial here in a cheating and forgery case.
A Delhi court has ordered the Patiala jail superintendent to explain his repeated failure to produce before it a couple wanted for their trial here in a cheating and forgery case.
The couple- Vipin Sharma and his wife Honey Sharma - had been earlier remanded in Punjab police custody for a probe into a case there and are presently lodged in the Patiala jail in judicial custody.
Chief metropolitan magistrate (CMM) Vidya Parkash issued a showcause notice to the jail superintendent.
Honey and Vipin, besides four co-accused, were arrested by the special cell of the Delhi Police in 2009 and are facing trial in several cases of cheating, forgery and breach of trust for allegedly running a racket of providing fake passports and visas in Delhi, Haryana and Punjab.
The court also issued fresh production warrants against the duo, to be executed through "a special messenger to be deputed by the deputy commissioner of police (DCP), special cell."
The court had also issued a showcause notice to the jail superintendent on September 10, after which the couple were produced before the CMM's court here on September 24 and October 8, but after that they were not produced on subsequent dates.
The court also noted that the accused were not being produced before it despite records revealing that the production warrants were duly received by the Patiala jail authorities.
Besides Honey and Vipin Sharma, their relatives Sachin Sharma, Bhupender, Aman Alam and Harshad Alam are also accused of cheating, forgery and criminal conspiracy under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Passport Act.
They were also booked under the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA). A sessions court had early this year discharged them from MCOCA, but the order was stayed by the high court in an appeal by the state.