The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court has quashed criminal proceedings against international shooter Vartika Singh in a case linked to alleged forged documents prepared in the name of a Union Cabinet minister.
A bench headed by Justice Rajeev Singh, in its order dated December 19, observed, "There is no evidence of cheating against the applicant, Vartika Singh, in the entire material available before the court."
The court noted that the documents allegedly forwarded to Singh were also shared with officials and other dignitaries for verification. However, no enquiry was conducted to determine who had actually prepared the fake documents.
On this basis, the bench found the continuation of proceedings against her untenable. The court also took note of the fact that the investigating officer had filed a closure report after finding that no offence was made out against Singh in the matter.
Despite this, criminal proceedings were allowed to continue. Consequently, the court held, the proceedings against Vartika Singh were liable to be set aside.
The case dates back to April 2020, when one Rajneesh Singh, claiming proximity to the secretary of then Union cabinet minister Smriti Irani, allegedly approached Vartika Singh with the promise of facilitating her nomination as a member of the National Commission for Women, New Delhi.
According to her lawyers, Rajneesh Singh shared unsigned documents with the international shooter over WhatsApp, indicating her supposed appointment. He later demanded Rs 25 lakh from her.
When Singh refused to pay the amount, a case was lodged against her later that year at the Musafirkhana police station in Amethi district under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code, her counsel said.
Following the investigation, police filed a chargesheet against Singh, and a judicial magistrate issued process for her trial.
Challenging these proceedings, her counsel, Mahendra Bahadur Singh and Rohit Kumar Tripathi, argued before the HC that she was falsely implicated after refusing to pay Rs 25 lakh for the alleged appointment.
They submitted that Singh had handed over the documents in question to the police and that, without conducting any enquiry to identify the person responsible for preparing the forged documents, a chargesheet was filed against her without supporting evidence.
The HC agreed, bringing the criminal case against the shooter to a close.