Jaitley CDR case: Offence of forgery made out, say police

The Delhi Police today told a court here that offences of forgery may be made out against the four arrested accused, including its constable Arvind Dabas, in the Arun Jaitley phone tapping case.

During the arguments on Dabas' bail plea in an in-camera hearing, the Special Cell of Delhi Police told the court that offences under sections 464 (making a false document), 468 (forgery for the purpose of cheating) and 471 (using as genuine a forged document) of the IPC may be made out against the arrested accused in the case.

A lawyer associated with the case said the police opposed the bail plea arguing that offences of forgery under the IPC are non-bailable and Dabas should not be granted the relief.

The police also said the chain of offence is "complete" which shows criminality on the part of the accused persons and their investigation in the case is going on.

Advocate Naushad Ahmad Khan, who appeared for Dabas, told the court that there was no direct evidence against his client and he should be enlarged on bail.

After hearing the arguments from both the sides, Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Amit Bansal reserved his order on the bail plea for March 11.

The court had yesterday also asked mediapersons to vacate the courtroom saying contents of the FIR would be cited during the hearing on the bail plea and the court had earlier directed that its details should not be revealed.

Dabas' counsel had told the court that there was no direct evidence to book his client under section 420 (cheating) of the IPC and he was falsely implicated in the case.

The defence counsel had also argued that the offences under which Dabas has been booked are bailable.

In his bail plea, Dabas alleged he has been implicated in the case by the Special Cell of
Delhi Police due to "personal animosities" and he has become a "victim of the system".

Besides Dabas, three private detectives -- Anurag, who is alleged to be the main conspirator, Neeraj and Nitish -- have been arrested and all the four accused are in judicial custody till March 20.

The police had earlier told the court that Dabas was the first to be arrested in the case on February 14 and their probe has revealed that Anurag was the main conspirator and others had joined the conspiracy.

All the accused have been booked for criminal conspiracy and cheating under the IPC and section 66 IT Act for hacking the computer system.