The Chhattisgarh High Court on Wednesday quashed an FIR registered against BJP leader and former chief minister Raman Singh and the party’s spokesperson Sambit Patra in connection with circulation of an alleged ‘toolkit’ using a bogus letterhead of the Congress.
A division bench of Chief Justice Ramesh Sinha and Justice NK Chandravanshi quashed the FIR (first information report), observing no offence was made out against the two BJP politicians, petitioners’ lawyer Vivek Sharma said.
On May 19, 2021, an FIR was lodged in Raipur based on a complaint of Akash Sharma, then-Chhattisgarh unit president of the National Students’ Union of India (NSUI), the student wing of the Congress.
The complainant had alleged Singh, Patra and other BJP leaders circulated fabricated content on social media platforms using a fake letterhead of the Congress by projecting it as a toolkit developed by the grand old party.
Singh and Patra had filed petitions in the HC seeking to quash the FIR, Sharma said.
After initial hearing on their petitions, the HC had stayed investigation into the charges levelled in the FIR, the lawyer said.
On September 12, the HC had reserved its order after hearing both sides and delivered the verdict on Wednesday, Sharma said.
Senior lawyer Mahesh Jethmalani had also appeared for the petitioners.
Hailing the order, former CM Singh said the HC’s decision is a lesson to the Congress which misuses power to suppress voices of its political opponents.
