Crl.MC.No.1191/2021 Page 1 of 16

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IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI

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Reserved on: 28^th February, 2023

Pronounced on: 02^nd March, 2023

+

CRL.M.C. 1191/2021, CRL.M.A. 6085/2021

SHIV DUTT BAKSHI

..... Petitioner

Through:

Ms.Geeta Luthra, Senior Advocate

with Mr.Nitin Saluja, Ms.Shivani

Luthra

Lohia,

Ms.Kamakshi

Gupta,

Mr.Ankur

Sinha,

Mr.Manas Aggarwal, Ms.Poonam

Dangi,

Mr.Saahil

Mongia,

Advocates.

versus

CENTRAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION ..... Respondent

Through:

Mr.Nikhil

Goel,

SPP

and

Mr.Kartik Kaushal, Advocate.

CORAM:

HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE YOGESH KHANNA

YOGESH KHANNA, J.

1.

The present petition for quashing under Section 482 Cr.P.C. is

preferred against an Order dated 02.03.2020, passed by the learned Spl.

Judge (PC) Act, CBI-12,RADCC, New Delhi arising out of RC

No.11(A)/2017/SCUV/SC-II/CBI/New Delhi, whereby the Ld. Special

Judge rejected the closure report No.11/2019 in present case, wherein

admittedly, the original device through which the alleged sting operation

was conducted was destroyed and could not be procured during the

investigation. It is alleged the Hard disk containing the video footage,

allegedly transferred from the original device, was also opined to be a

Digitally Signed

By:PRADEEP SHARMA

Signing Date:03.03.2023 17:17

Signature Not Verified

Crl.MC.No.1191/2021 Page 2 of 16

'bad media' and thus not admissible as evidence in terms of law laid

down in Anvar P.V vs P. K Basheer and Others (2014) 10 SCC 473 and

(2015) 3 SCC 123. It is argued the summoning order is liable to be

quashed.

2.

The facts are as under:

a.

on 17^th and 18^th July 2016, a private news Channel called

Samachar Plus aired on national broadcast an alleged sting

operation. The operation was allegedly carried out and recorded by

a journalist Pt.Auysh Gaur (Deputy Director, Samachar Plus)

allegedly through a customized i-phone spy camera between

March 2016 to May 2016 allegedly exposing the manner in which

rules

were

being

flouted

in

Dr.Karni

Singh

Shooting

Range("KSSR"), in return of cash and gifts, to facilitate shooting

practice by potential shooters. One such recording dated

15.05.2016 allegedly contain footage of the Petitioner accepting an

alleged amount of Rs.1.00 Lakh in cash and a bottle of liquor from

the reporter who posed as a young shooter wanting to utilize the

shooting range facilities. It is apposite to mention it is an admitted

case of the prosecution that Pt.Ayush Gaur in his statement under

Section 161 Cr.P.C. has admitted the petitioner had never

demanded any amount for any purpose either before 15.05.2016 or

at any point in time. It is further the case of prosecution itself the

recording was edited by the producer for the purposes of the

telecast. On the basis of the aforesaid telecast, an internal inquiry

was conducted by the Sports Authority of India (hereinafter as

Digitally Signed

By:PRADEEP SHARMA

Signing Date:03.03.2023 17:17

Signature Not Verified

Crl.MC.No.1191/2021 Page 3 of 16

'SAI') and the SAI sought video footage from the news channel on

18.07.2016. The news channel allegedly loaded the video footage

from the hard-disk in two CD's containing, one raw audio visual

footage and second server copy of the telecast footage of the

programme "Operation Arjun" and handed over the CD's through a

token on 11.08.2016. Thereafter, SAI forwarded the two CDs to

CFSL, Chandigarh on 20.07.2016. Without waiting for the CFSL

result and after the delay of approximately seven months from the

date of the telecast of the so called sting, on 02.03.2017, a

co