E-Paper
Haryana: CBI court sets aside order granting pardon to accused in ₹72.73 crore bank fraud case
The revision petition, filed in August 2025, challenged the magistrate’s orders dated July 31 and August 7, 2025, under which Jain was granted pardon under Section 306 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) and made an approver in the case CBI vs Ramesh Chand and Others (2024).
A special CBI court in Panchkula has set aside orders passed by the special judicial magistrate (CBI), Panchkula, granting pardon to an accused in a high-value bank fraud case. The court allowed a criminal revision petition filed by Mukesh Kumar of Karnal against the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and co-accused Suresh Kumar Jain of Rohini, New Delhi.
The revision petition, filed in August 2025, challenged the magistrate’s orders dated July 31 and August 7, 2025, under which Jain was granted pardon under Section 306 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) and made an approver in the case CBI vs Ramesh Chand and Others (2024).
The case stems from a complaint lodged by Dinesh Kumar, then chief manager of Punjab National Bank, Sector-12, Karnal. Acting on the complaint, the CBI registered an FIR on February 10, 2022, under various sections of the IPC and the Prevention of Corruption Act, alleging a fraud that caused a wrongful loss of ₹72.73 crore to the bank.
According to the CBI, partners of M/s Shri Ram Rice Mills, Nissing, along with a chartered accountant and a broker, conspired to manipulate stock statements and balance sheets and used fake invoices to inflate rice stock and cheat banks.
After the filing of the chargesheet, Jain sought pardon at the stage of arguments on charge, which was allowed by the magistrate.
However, counsel for the revisionist Deepanshu Bansal argued that mandatory provisions of Section 306 CrPC were violated. Accepting the plea, the special CBI judge, in an order dated January 3, held that the magistrate had wrongly exercised discretion and declared the orders illegal and unsustainable.
