NEW DELHI: A Delhi court has acquitted all surviving accused in a 1986 case related to the alleged forging of documents of the Rashtrapati Bhawan, saying that the prosecution rested on conjectures and inferences.
In the case originally initiated on the directions of the Supreme Court, Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Jyoti Maheshwari cleared three accused—Mohan Lal Jatia, Ashok Jatia and Ashok Jain—of all charges, including criminal conspiracy, fabrication of evidence and forgery. Two other accused, Milap Chand Jagotra and Gurcharan Singh, who were working in the President’s Secretariat during the alleged offence, died during the pendency of the case.
“The non-examination of material witnesses, failure to prove secondary evidence in accordance with law and inconsistencies in the testimony of crucial prosecution witnesses collectively give rise to a serious and reasonable doubt. On the other hand, the accused have been able to cast a serious dent in the case of the prosecution,” the judge said in the March 27 order.
The case arose in 1986 when Jatia challenged his detention before the courts.
A key claim in his case before the Supreme Court was that a representation had been submitted to the President of India but was never considered.
Doubts over the authenticity of this claim led to allegations that the accused conspired to fabricate evidence, including forging entries in official records at the President’s secretariat. Acting on these concerns, the SC in 1994 directed that a criminal complaint be filed and investigated by CBI.