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Sacked Supreme Court officials sent to police custody for seven days
In February, the Supreme Court summarily dismissed two court masters, Manav Sharma and Tapan Kumar Chakraborty, for allegedly tampering with its January 7 order directing the personal appearance of Ambani.
A Delhi court on Monday sent two sacked Supreme Court officials to seven days in police custody for allegedly tampering with the court’s order directing personal appearance of Reliance Communications chairman Anil Ambani in a contempt proceeding . The two court officials were arrested by Delhi police on Sunday.
In February, the Supreme Court summarily dismissed two court masters, Manav Sharma and Tapan Kumar Chakraborty, for allegedly tampering with its January 7 order directing the personal appearance of Ambani.
Police said the two are accused of “preparing, signing and uploading on the official website of the Supreme Court, an incorrect record of proceedings”.
“The FIR was lodged against Sharma and Chakraborty on March 1, under 420 (cheating), 466 (forgery of record of court ) , 467 (forgery of valuable security will), 468 (forgery), 471 (using as genuine a forged document or electronic record), 218 (public servant framing incorrect record or writing with intent to save person from punishment or property), 219 (public servant in judicial proceeding corruptly making report contrary to law), 120B (criminal conspiracy) and under the IT Act,” said a senior police officer, who did not wish to be identified.
The court while sending them to police custody observed that the offence alleged against the two is of serious nature and it pertains to the interference of the Supreme Court’s proceedings. “The offence deserves a full, free and fair trial in the interest of justice,” said metropolitan magistrate Sumeet Anand, while sending Sharma and Chakraborty to seven-day police remand.
The controversy relates to the order passed by the bench of Justices R F Nariman and Vineet Saran ordering personal appearance of Anil Ambani in a contempt petition filed by Ericsson.
Appearing for the state, assistant public prosecutor Bhanu Pratap and Vikas argued that their act amounts to tampering with the court’s order and forgery of record of the court.
The crime branch officials, ACP Anil Dureja and inspector Abhinendra Jain, also informed the court that “there are some other persons also who have hatched the conspiracy” to tamper with the court’s order.
Ambani’s lawyer Mahesh Aggrawal could not immediately be reached for a comment.
Appearing for the accused, advocates Manish Kumar Singh, JP Singh and Brijesh Sharma said they were falsely arrested and wrongly implicated as their job profile does not provide them any occasion to tamper with the record and it is not their duty to upload the orders on the website.
