‘SC can’t be instrument of fraud.’ CBI told to probe case implicating Nitish Katara murder witness

SC frowned at lawyers involved in case, said matter assumes serious concern when advocates, who appear as officers of court, actively participate in ‘ill-motivated litigations’.

Supreme Court of India | Suraj Singh Bisht | ThePrint

New Delhi: The Supreme Court Friday ordered the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to investigate the alleged fraud that was committed on it in a case that sought to revive rape charges against Ajay Katara, the star witness in the Nitish Katara murder case.

In giving the direction, the bench of Justices Bela Trivedi and Satish Chandra Sharma held that the petition against Ajay Katara was filed with the able assistance of a battery of advocates in the Supreme Court, including the advocate-on-record (AOR).

The brazen attempts, it observed, were made in the name of one Bhagwan Singh, a resident from Uttar Pradesh’s Budaun district, whose daughter had alleged that she had been raped by Ajay Katara.

The criminal appeal, filed at the behest of Bhagwan Singh, urged the top court to set aside Allahabad High Court’s 2019 judgment that quashed rape charges against Ajay Katara.

However, in an affidavit filed before the top court, Bhagwan Singh said he never signed any criminal appeal related to the matter. Since the petition was filed based on false and fabricated documents, the court said it was done to initiate false proceedings in the name of the person who did not know about the matter.

Acts of fraud only to falsely implicate someone is an offence covered by the Bhartiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), the court said. The fraud, the bench observed, was not only committed against the person who was falsely implicated and the person in whose name such false proceedings were filed without his consent but also against the courts. “No court can allow itself to be used as an instrument of fraud and no court can allow its eyes to be closed to the fact that it is being used as an instrument of fraud,” the bench said.

“The matter assumes serious concern when the advocates who are the officers of the court are involved and when they actively participate in the ill-motivated litigations of the unscrupulous litigants and assist them in misusing and abusing the process of law to achieve their ulterior purposes,” the bench added.

The CBI, the court said, would register a regular case, after holding a preliminary inquiry, if necessary, against all the persons found involved and responsible. This will include the lawyers who helped with the filing of the frivolous petition. It asked the CBI director to take the steps and submit a report to the court within two months.

The bench also reminded advocates about the rules of practice that apply to them and said their conduct must conform to the conduct and etiquette laid down in the Bar Council of India Rules. Similarly, AOR who have to sign all petitions filed in the top court, are bound by the Supreme Court Rules of 2013. It directed a copy of its order to be sent to the Bar Council of India for appropriate action in the case.

The court reiterated its earlier direction to advocates-on-record not to mark the appearance of lawyers who are not authorised to appear or argue the case.

Issue begins in 2013

The genesis of the proceedings that led to the judgment Friday lies in an 11-year-old kidnapping First Information Report (FIR) lodged by Bhagwan Singh with Budaun Police on 28 June 2013. The complaint alleged his daughter, Rinki, had been kidnapped by four persons, including his son-in-law, Sukhpal.

A month later Rinki approached the Allahabad High Court, seeking protection for her husband in the FIR registered on the complaint of her father, Bhagwan Singh. The high court recorded the statements of Rinki and Sukhpal who claimed they were adults, and asked the police to record the couple’s statement.

When Rinki recorded her statement with the police on 22 August 2013, she accused Ajay Katara and two others of raping her in Ghaziabad. Three months later, on 20 December 2013, the police closed the case against Ajay Katara.

Katara is the prime witness in the high-profile 2002 Nitish Katara murder case. His testimony and deposition put the killers—Vikas and Vishal Yadav, the son and nephew of politician DP Yadav—behind bars.

Katara is currently fighting off 37 cases, including rape, extortion, kidnapping, and theft.

In 2018, five years later, Rinki filed an application before the Badaun court, alleging the police never took action against Ajay. When her application was rejected, she approached the high court that remitted the matter to the trial court, asking it to decide the case afresh and take it to a logical end according to the law.

Consequently, the investigation against Katara was reopened and, after recording statements of Rinki and Sukhpal, the police filed a charge-sheet in the matter. The trial court took cognisance in December 2018, which Katara challenged before the Allahabad HC. In December 2019 the HC quashed the criminal proceedings against Katara.

A curious twist: links to Katara case emerge

In 2023, in a curious twist to the case, a review petition was filed in the high court against its December 2019 decision. This was filed by Bhagwan Singh. And when the high court dismissed it in April 2024, Bhagwan Singh approached the Supreme Court, requesting it to set aside the high court decision to let the rape case proceed against Katara.

In response to a notice from the top court, Katara denied the rape charges. Meanwhile, the real Bhagwan Singh learnt that someone was impersonating him in the Supreme Court when the Badaun Police called him to find out why he had gone to the top court.

Surprised to know about this, Bhagwan Singh filed an affidavit before the Supreme Court, denying his involvement in the case. On being summoned by the bench, his daughter, Rinki and Sukhpal appeared and told the court that they had a vakalatnama signed by Bhagwan Singh to file the petition.

Bhagwan Singh refuted the claim and said he had not met his daughter or son-in-law ever since they eloped to get married.

Further inquiry by Justice Trivedi’s bench revealed that the advocate-on-record (AOR) who signed the petition did so without meeting Bhagwan Singh. On being asked, the AOR told the bench the lawyer, R.P.S Yadav, at whose instance he prepared, signed and filed the petition was his father’s friend and he did so in good faith. Even the notary who had notarised Bhagwan Singh’s affidavit admitted that he had never met him.

Ajay Katara and Bhagwan Singh’s advocates pointed out that the lawyers who were named as the petitioner’s advocates were the same who had appeared a few months ago for Nitish Katara murder convict Vikas Yadav in the Supreme Court, where Yadav had requested parole.

In its Friday judgment, the top court frowned at the lawyers involved in the case and said the matter assumes serious concern when advocates, who appear as officers of the court, actively participate in the “ill-motivated litigations of the unscrupulous litigants” and assist them in misusing and abusing the process of law to achieve their ulterior purposes.

“No professional, much less legal professional, is immune from being prosecuted for his/her criminal misdeeds,” the bench said.

“People repose immense faith in the judiciary, and the Bar being an integral part of the justice delivery system, has been assigned a very crucial role for preserving the independence of justice and the very democratic set up of the country,” the court said.

“There is a great sanctity attached to the proceedings conducted in the court. Every advocate putting his signatures on the vakalatnamas and on the documents to be filed in the courts, and every advocate appearing for a party in the courts, is presumed to have filed the proceedings and put his/her appearance with all sense of responsibility and seriousness,” the bench said.

(Edited by Sanya Mathur)