Punjab and Haryana High Court grants bail to woman in ‘poll ticket’ cheating case

Saurabh Malik

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, November 10

A bizarre case has surfaced before the Punjab and Haryana High Court in which an impersonator allegedly claimed he was calling from Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s office before demanding money from a ticket aspirant from a constituency in Bihar.

The matter was brought to Justice Arvind Singh Sangwan’s notice after Amarjit Kaur filed a petition against Punjab for bail in an FIR registered on October 10, 2020, for cheating, criminal conspiracy and other offences in Amritsar.

Appearing before Justice Sangwan’s Bench, the petitioner’ counsel submitted the FIR was registered at the instance of complainant AICC secretary Varinder Singh Rathore. It was alleged he received a phone call from Mukesh Kumar Singh. Describing himself as an aspirant for the ticket, Kumar claimed he was approached by Kanishka Singh, who stated he was calling from Rahul’s office and demanded money for securing a ticket from the Barbigha constituency. It was, subsequently, found that one Gaurav Kumar was impersonating Kanishka Singh.

It was further alleged the impersonator gave a bank account number, belonging to the petitioner in which Rs 15,30,000 was transferred.

The petitioner’s counsel submitted she was a distributor for Airtel. In the process, her number was circulated to several persons. There was no evidence that she cheated the victim. Justice Sangwan allowed her bail plea considering she was in judicial custody for the last nine months.