IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH Date of Decision: September 24, 2025 Des Raj ...Petitioner Versus State of Haryana ...Respondent CORAM: HON'BLE MS. JUSTICE RUPINDERJIT CHAHAL ***

Present: - Mr.Shivam Kamboj Sirsa, Advocate for the petitioner.

Mr.Neeraj Sheoran, Sr.DAG, Haryana.

RUPINDERJIT CHAHAL, J.

1. Prayer in the present petition filed under Section 482 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 is for grant of anticipatory bail to the petitioner in case FIR No.294 dated 08.09.2022 registered under Sections 120-B, 409, 420, 467, 468 and 471 of the Indian Penal Code, at Police Station City Ratia, District Fatehabad.

2. Status report filed in court today by the State, is taken on record.

3. Brief facts of the prosecution case are that the FIR was lodged on the communication received from Sub-Inspector Rajesh Kumar of CM Flying, Hisar alleging that the officers and employees of the Market Committee, Ratia and Dharshul Kalan are causing loss to the State in collusion with the Commission Agents by making false registrations on the Government Portal namely ‘Meri Fasal Mera Byora’. During investigation, it was found that certain persons, including the petitioner have got registered on the said Portal from different villages of Districts Jind, Kaithal, Fatehabad and Sirsa to get Minimum Support Price of their crops illegally. Due to the said registration, the Government Agency deposited money in the accounts of the said persons. Few firms also got payments from the Government in their Bank Accounts on the basis of registration on the Portal, while factually the registered owners do not have any land in their names. It was concluded that in this way, the registered owners and the Firms have cheated the Government by getting Minimum Support Price of the paddy and other crops, that they never sown or cultivated.

4. Learned counsel for the petitioner contends that the petitioner has been falsely implicated in the present case. He has contended that the petitioner is owner of 9 acres of land and has taken some land on lease for the last four years. He had provided his own land details of 9 acres to the agent for updation on the Portal and it is fault of the said agent who updated/registered wrong killa numbers i.e. total 15 acres on the Portal. Learned counsel has further submitted that the petitioner is an uneducated person having no knowledge as to which number has been registered in his name at the Portal. Learned counsel has further submitted that the petitioner is ready and willing to join the investigation as and when called upon to do so by the investigating agency. 5. Notice of motion.

6. Learned State counsel, who has appeared on advance notice of the petition, has vehemently opposed the prayer for anticipatory bail by submitting that offence committed by the petitioner is serious in nature. Referring to the status report, he has submitted that during investigation, it was revealed from the bank records that an amount of Rs.8,74,271/- was credited on 25.11.2020 by the Government Procurement Agency/HSWC in the Allahabad Bank Account of the petitioner. Immediately, on the same day, from the said Account, an amount of Rs.8,50,000/- was transferred to the account of the firm Deshraj Trading Company. The status report further mentions that statements of actual landowners, namely Pyara Singh and Joginder Kaur, whose approximately 6 acres of land was shown on the Portal to be of petitioner, reveal that they themselves cultivated different variety of paddy on their land and sold it privately and never got registered on the Portal.

7. Heard learned counsel for the parties at length and perused the record of the case.

8. It is befitting to mention here that while considering a plea for grant of anticipatory bail, the Court has to equilibrate between safeguarding individual rights and protecting societal interest(s). The Court ought to reckon with the magnitude and nature of the offence; the role attributed to the accus