Persons claiming to be staff of 2 Union Ministers called to influence me: Judge

A copy of the order has been sent to the Kurukshetra District and Sessions Judge for information and necessary action.

The matter relates to the case of M/s Shyam Overseas & Ors. versus Haryana Agro Industries Corp. Ltd.

Three persons, Shyam Lal, Beena Devi and Mohit Garg (who are currently on bail), had filed an appeal against their conviction in a criminal complaint under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act in 2018.

On June 1 this year, they filed an application seeking a stay on further proceedings in the appeal until finalisation of arbitration proceedings.

The judge dismissed the application and then detailed how efforts were made to influence the court. He mentioned mobile phone numbers from which the calls were made.

“The appellants have been trying to approach this court by repeated phone calls in the name of Union Ministers from different mobile numbers in order to prevail upon this court to adjourn the case to a long date,” the order stated.

“On 28.06.2023, a phone call was received by the undersigned from mobile No… and the caller lady introduced herself as Personal Secretary of the Union Food Processing Minister. She requested for a long adjournment in the present case. She was told that matters are decided in courts on merits and not on the basis of recommendations,” it stated.

The appellants, the order stated, did not relent and got another call made to the judge “on 01.07.2023 from mobile No…. in which the caller introduced himself as Personal Secretary of the Union Law Minister” and requested for long adjournment in the case.

“He was also told that such recommendations are not appreciable and the case would be dealt with as per merits,” the order stated.

The judge also mentioned that repeated phone calls were made to him on July 6, the day he pronounced the order. “Today also, seven calls were received from mobile No…. on the mobile number of the undersigned.”

When the judge did not answer the calls, the appellants, the order stated, got an SMS sent from a mobile number which is reproduced as under:

“Good Morning Sir, Sir am Sachin Shinde Hon’ble Minister Arjunram Meghwal’s Personal Secretary Law Ministry Delhi. Sir, I spoke to you on 1st July regarding the case of agro, today’s hearing is there. We say that today you will give the date of 5-6 month because… talks is going on so need some more time. Today listing No.-43 M/s. Shyam Lal Overseas Vs. Haryana Agro Industries. Case No. CRA/14/2018.”

According to the judge, since he had blocked the mobile number, the appellants started making calls from another mobile number. “After avoiding three calls from the said mobile number, the undersigned picked the fourth call only to find that it was the same person claiming himself to be the Private Secretary of the Union Law Minister. As such, the caller was rebuked and warned of criminal proceedings, if he called the undersigned again,” the order stated.

Reached for comment, Union Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal told The Indian Express: “We have never discussed any case in our office, nor is it our habit to call judges. This has nothing to do with me or my office.” Officials at the Minister’s office said, “There is no person by this name in our office, and no such call or communication has been made by our side.”

The office of Union Food Processing Industries Minister Pashupati Kumar Paras said no woman was in the minister’s staff. Prasanna Kumar Sahi, Additional Private Secretary to the Minister for Food Processing Industries, said there has been no woman member in the minister’s staff ever. Even when Paras was a Member of Parliament, there was no woman in his staff, Sahi said.

– With Harikishan Sharma in New Delhi