Chhattisgarh High Court stays toolkit FIR probe against Raman Singh, Sambit Patra

The BJP leaders were accused of spreading unrest and provoking people over a fake story.

While Abhishek Manu Singhvi along with state advocate general S C Verma and Sumeet Sodhi represented the state government, Patra and Singh were represented by Mahesh Jethmalani, Vivek Sharma, Gary Mukhopadhyay, Apoorv Kurup, Avdhesh Kumar Singh and Ravi Sharma.

The petitioners said that an FIR was already lodged in Delhi, where the police had begun investigation. “The Delhi Police has initiated enquiry about sources of these documents, but the complaint has been subsequently withdrawn by the complainant. The Chhattisgarh Police without enquiring about the truth, has lodged the FIR,” senior counsel for Singh and Patra said.

A single bench of Justice Narendra Kumar Vyas found “no offence” under Sections 504 and 505 (1)(b) and (c). “By the Twit (sic) of the petitioner, congressmen are aggravated which clearly indicates that no public peace or tranquility is being adversely affected and it is purely political rivalry between two political parties. This, prima facie, establishes that the present FIR has been registered with political motives.”