RAJ KUMAR
Ranchi, March 3: The Jharkhand High Court allowed a petition of three congress legislatures, Rajesh Kacchap, Irfan Ansari and Naman Vixel Kongari, challenging zero FIR against them at the Argora police station.
Justice S Chandrashekhar passed the order this morning. It was uploaded on the Jharkhand High Court website in the evening.
What were the grounds on which the writ was allowed and what reliefs the three MLAs have been given is not clear from the judgment uploaded as the court orders to keep the signed judgment in the original files
“The judgment is pronounced in the open Court. This writ petition is allowed in terms of the signed judgment. The signed judgment shall be kept in the original files,” the three-line order reads.
On February 24, the high court reserved its judgment on the matter. The FIR was registered alleging the three MLAs of accepting cash to topple the Jharkhand government.
Congress legislature Anup Singh registered the FIR in the presence of congress state president Rajesh Thakur at Argora police station on July 31, 2022. The FIR was registered a day after Rs 48 lakh cash was recovered from the possession of the above-mentioned MLAs in Panchla in West Bengal. The MLAs had to face trouble due to the FIR.
The matter reached the high court in October last year after MLA Kachhap filed a writ petition for quashing the FIR. A senior advocate Ranjit Kumar appearing on his behalf MLA Kachhap raised the issue of jurisdiction and raised doubt on the intention of Singh.
The advocate also pointed out the West Bengal Police as not the central probe agency and thus not entitled to probe the matter of toppling the Jharkhand government.
The advocates involved in the matter include A. K. Sinha, who is appearing for the State of West Bengal, Sachin Kumar, who is appearing on behalf of Jharkhand State, Vinod Kumar Sahu, appearing on behalf of the state government, besides several others the learned Senior Panel Counsel for the Union of India.
Kacchap welcomed the order saying it came as a big relief for him. Irfan echoed Kachhap, “after West Bengal police recovered cash from us it did not take any action. Police action started after zero FIR was registered in Jharkhand and we faced a lot of problems due to this. The FIR was registered at Argora after Kotwali police refused to register the zero FIR in the matter.”
