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NEW DELHI: The Punjab and Haryana high court has refused to grant anticipatory bail to an advocate accused of cheating a family out of over Rs 10 lakh by posing as someone with connections to judges and senior officials, and allegedly showing them a forged bail order.Justice Deepak Gupta passed the order while hearing the plea of an advocate booked under Section 318(4) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and Sections 8 and 12 of the Prevention of Corruption Act.What was the dispute about?The FIR was filed by Jaspreet Kaur and her brother. Jaspreet's husband Baljit Singh was in jail in connection with a case under the UAPA and Arms Act. While looking for help to get him bail, the family came in contact with Anurag Khullar, who allegedly told them he was an advocate with strong connections with senior officials and members of the judiciary.Khullar allegedly assured them he would get bail for Baljit Singh and demanded money from time to time towards expenses for advocates, sureties and other persons. He then allegedly showed them a bail order purportedly passed by the high court.The bail order which he showed had no official seal and appeared suspicious. The family came to know that there was no bail application had in fact been filed. The family claims to have been cheated of Rs 10,92,400.
Bank account statements obtained during investigation confirmed that Rs 5,92,000 was transferred to the petitioner. The complainant had taken a loan from Aditya Birla Capital and had even mortgaged a piece of land to arrange the money Khullar allegedly demanded.A further Rs 5,00,000 was allegedly paid in cash in the parking area of the Punjab and Haryana high court.Khullar denied all the charges, saying he was a practicing advocate duly enrolled with the Bar Council of Punjab and Haryana in 2023 and that any dispute over fees was civil in nature.
He also claimed the complainants had criminal backgrounds and had threatened him and his family.What did the court say?Justice Deepak Gupta dismissed the anticipatory bail plea, finding that the case was far too serious for pre-arrest protection to be granted at this stage. It also rejected the argument that being a practicing advocate was a ground for bail."The status of a profession neither places a person above the law nor creates a separate standard for considering a prayer under Section 482 BNSS," the court said.On the forged bail order, the court noted that the matter of Baljit Singh was not even pending before the bench whose name allegedly appeared on the fabricated document."Any attempt to fabricate judicial records strikes directly at the administration of justice and warrants a thorough and effective investigation," it said.The court also noted that Khullar had been evading arrest despite multiple raids at his home and the residences of his relatives.
A laptop recovered from his wife's possession had been sent for the forensic examination.According to the prosecution, the accused allegedly prepared and used a forged court order to mislead authorities and gain an undue advantage.Given the seriousness of the charges, the fact that investigation was still ongoing and that the police needed to question him in custody to recover digital evidence, the court found no reason to protect him from arrest and dismissed his plea.
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