JUDGMENT :

DHANANJAYA Y. CHANDRACHUD, CJI.

1. Application for impleadment is allowed. Mr. Nishant Sharma, complainant, shall be added as a respondent to these proceedings. Mr. Rahul Sharma, counsel appears along with Ms. Rashmi Malhotra, counsel on behalf of the newly added respondent.

2. These proceedings emanate from an order of a Division Bench of the High Court of Himachal Pradesh dated 9 January 2024.

Criminal Writ Petition and proceedings before the High Court

3. The proceedings before the High Court were initiated on an email from Mr. Nishant Kumar Sharma, addressed to the Chief Justice of the High Court through the Registrar General. The complainant alleged in his email, that he was facing threats emanating from two persons “X” a former IPS officer and “Y” a practicing Digitally signed by advocate.

4. According to his email, the complainant is a resident of Palampur, in District Kangra of Himachal Pradesh. His family conducts a hotel in Palampur. A relative of “Y” had invested in the company of the complainant. He alleges that “Y” has been pressurizing him and his father through “X” to sell their shares in their company. “Y” was stated to have threatened the company’s auditors, a