Bail plea of woman accused of forging judge's sign rejected

A court today dismissed the bail plea of a woman accused of forging an order sheet and the signature of a judge who was hearing a case lodged against her estranged husband.

A court on Thursday dismissed the bail plea of a woman accused of forging an order sheet and the signature of a judge who was hearing a case lodged against her estranged husband.

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District and sessions judge S P Garg said the denial of bail to accused Madhulika Rastogi by a lower court was "justified" as the offence was grave.

"The probe in the case is at an initial stage and the magisterial court was justified in not granting her the bail," the district judge said.

Additional chief metropolitan magistrate Naveen Arora, on July 20, had rejected her bail application and consequently, she filed a fresh plea before the sessions court.

Rastogi, who is now in judicial custody in connection with the case, was earlier questioned for a day by crime branch of Delhi Police in its custody.

Madhulika, engaged in a matrimonial battle with her estranged husband Ashish Rastogi, a pilot, is accused of forging signatures and order sheets of Metropolitan Magistrate Veena Rani.

The magistrate was hearing a case lodged by Madhulika claiming maintenance from her husband under section 125 of the CRPC.

After noticing fudging of the order sheets and her signatures, the magistrate herself lodged a complaint with additional chief metropolitan magistrate Kiran Bansal who, in turn, had asked the crime branch on February 1, this year to lodge an FIR against her.