SupremeToday Landscape Ad
Back
Next
Judicial Analysis Court Copy Headnote Facts Arguments Court observation
Listen Audio Icon Pause Audio Icon
judgment-img

2026 Supreme(Del) 214

IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI
NEENA BANSAL KRISHNA, J.
 
Central Bureau Of Investigtation, Through Supdt. Of Police, Banking Securities Fraud Branch, New Delhi - Petitioner 
Versus
Ashok Kumar Raheja, S/o. Sh. Ram Chand Raheja – Respondent
Crl.M.C. 3004 of 2021, CRL.M.A. 18809 of 2021
Decided On : 05-02-2026
 

Advocates Appeared:
For the Petitioner:Mr. Anupam S. Sharma (SPP-CBI), Ms. Harpreet Kalsi, Mr. Ripudaman Sharma, Mr. Vashisht Rao, Ms. Riya Sachdeva, Advocates.
For the Respondent:Mr. Prem Chhetri, Mr. A.K. Bhatia and Mr. Shailender Sharma, Advocates.

The Court ruled that documents not relied upon by the prosecution during the charge framing stage are not to be disclosed to the accused; issues related to the validity of prosecution Sanction arise only during trial.

Headnote:(A) Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 - Section 482 - Pre-trial disclosure of documents - The CBI challenged an order directing disclosure of a Request Letter and draft Sanction Letter for prosecution of the Respondent - The Special Judge erred in ordering these disclosures at the charge framing stage without reliance on said documents. (Paras 12, 14, 52)

(B) Criminal Law - Right to Fair Defence - The Court emphasized that non-reliance on un-seized documents does not necessitate their disclosure to the accused - The validity of Sanction can only be challenged during trial, not during inquiries. (Paras 11, 50, 52)

Facts of the case:
The CBI brought forth allegations against the Respondent involving dishonesty and negligence in banking operations leading to a significant financial fraud against the Indian Overseas Bank. The learned Special Judge ordered the CBI to produce certain documents which the CBI contended were irrelevant at the stage of framing of charges against the Respondent.

Findings of Court:
The Court found that the CBI was not required to produce documents not relied upon in the charge sheet, reaffirming the relevance of evidence presented at trial rather than at a pre-charge stage.

Issues: The key issues addressed include the timing of document disclosure in relation to charge framing and the appropriate context for assessing the validity of prosecution Sanction.

Ratio Decidendi: The Court determined that the impugned order improperly mandated document production at the preliminary stage, underscoring that the essentiality of documents should be ascertained during trial, not pre-trial.

Result: The petition was allowed, setting aside the previous order.

Table of Content
1. petition for setting aside previous order. (Para 1)
2. allegations of fraud against respondent. (Para 2 , 3 , 4)
3. investigation completion and sanction order. (Para 5 , 6)
4. request for documents from cbi. (Para 7 , 8)
5. challenging supply of non-relevant documents. (Para 9 , 10 , 11 , 12)
6. court’s authority on document relevance. (Para 13 , 14)
7. consideration of validity of sanction during trial. (Para 15 , 16 , 17)
8. respondent's position on document relevance. (Para 18 , 19)
9. necessity for fair sanction procedure. (Para 20 , 21 , 22 , 23)
10. document relevance at charge framing stage. (Para 24 , 25)
11. power of court to summon documents. (Para 26 , 27)
12. accused's right to document production. (Para 28 , 29)
13. disclosure of documents for justice. (Para 30 , 31)
14. relevance of documents in pre-trial phase. (Para 32 , 33)
15. judge's role in assessing prosecution case. (Para 34 , 35)
16. rights of the accused during charge framing. (Para 36 , 37)
17. limitations on document requests by accused. (Para 38 , 39 , 40 , 41 , 42)
18. conclusion on sanction documents. (Para 52)
19. final ruling on petition. (Para 53 , 54)

JUDGMENT :

NEENA BANSAL KRISHNA, J.

1. Petition filed under Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, has been filed on behalf of the Petitioner CBI seeking setting aside of Order dated 09.04.2021 of the learned Special Judge (PC Act) (CBI) – 02 Delhi, whereby the Petitioner/CBI had been directed to provide a copy of the Request Letter issued to the Complainant Bank seeking sanction for prosecution of the Respondent and also to provide draft Sanction Letter if supplied by CBI to the Complainant Bank, while seeking sanction to prosecute the Respondent (accused).

2. Briefly stated, case RCBD12015E0006/CBI/BS&FC/DLI was registered against Respondent on 19.05.2015, on the basis of written Complaint dated 27.04.2015 received from Mr. D.C. Kar, Regional Manager, Indian Overseas Bank, Regional Office, Chandigarh. As per the allegations in the Complaint, during the period 2008 onwards, M/s Green Valley Plywood Ltd., Mr. Jagmohan Kejriwal, Chairman & Managing Director, Mrs. Anju Kejriwal, the then Director, M/s G.R. Bansal & Co. through its Partner Mr. G.R. Bansal, and other unknown public servants of Bhiwani Stand, Rohtak Branch and Connaught Place Branch of Indian Overseas Bank, and others, cheated the Complainant Bank to the tune of Rs.71.79 crores on the basis of forged 86 LCs worth Rs 70.49 crores, which were got opened by M/s Green Valley Plywood Ltd. and other forged supporting documents; through fraudulent transactions and by furnishing fake Invoices purportedly in the name of supplier Firms. The borrowers defrauded the Bank with dishonest intention to siphon off the public fund for the purpose other than for which it was sanctioned. The Company indulged in fraud and fabrication of proforma Invoices of various non-genuine Suppliers. The LCs were got issued by the borrower on the basis of forged documents which were subsequently not paid, which caused wrongful loss to the complainant Bank to the tune of Rs.71.79 Crores and corresponding wrongful gain to themselves.

3. The allegations against the Respondent Ashok Kumar Raheja, the then Chief Manager and Branch Head of Indian Overseas Bank, Rohtak Branch, was that during the period from September, 2010 to February 2012, he deliberately did not perform his duties diligently. Being the Branch Head, it was imperative on his part to ensure that the officials in the Credit Department adhered to the Policy of the Bank while issuing the Letters of credit, on the request of M/s Green Valley Plywood Ltd. During the relevant period, LCs worth Rs.66,84,39,913.00 (Rs.67 crores approx), were issued by the Branch which got devolved and caused wrongful loss to the Bank and consequent wrongful gain to the co-accused persons. Respondent deliberately failed to ensure the adherence of prescribed rules/procedures/ terms and conditions of the sanction before issuing a

Click Here to Read the rest of this document
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
SupremeToday Portrait Ad
supreme today icon
logo-black

An indispensable Tool for Legal Professionals, Endorsed by Various High Court and Judicial Officers

Please visit our Training & Support
Center or Contact Us for assistance

qr

Scan Me!

India’s Legal research and Law Firm App, Download now!

For Daily Legal Updates, Join us on :

whatsapp-icon Back to top