Delhi High Court Upholds Conviction Of Ex-Cop In 33-Year-Old Fake Passport Verification Case
The Delhi High Court has upheld the conviction of a former Delhi Police Assistant Sub-Inspector in a 33-year-old fake passport verification case involving forged documents and false police reports submitted for obtaining passports.Justice Chandrasekharan Sudha dismissed the appeal filed by former ASI Sube Singh against his conviction under Section 120-B IPC and Section 13(1)(d) read with...
The Delhi High Court has upheld the conviction of a former Delhi Police Assistant Sub-Inspector in a 33-year-old fake passport verification case involving forged documents and false police reports submitted for obtaining passports.
Justice Chandrasekharan Sudha dismissed the appeal filed by former ASI Sube Singh against his conviction under Section 120-B IPC and Section 13(1)(d) read with Section 13(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
The prosecution case dated back to 1993, when four accused persons allegedly entered into a criminal conspiracy to procure passports using forged documents and false addresses.
According to the CBI, two accused submitted passport applications containing fictitious addresses, while Sube Singh, then posted in the Special Branch of Delhi Police, was assigned to conduct police verification.
The allegation against him was that he knowingly submitted false verification reports certifying the addresses and particulars as genuine, thereby facilitating issuance of passports on the basis of forged ration cards and fabricated records.
A CBI FIR was registered in 1995 alleging offences under the IPC, Prevention of Corruption Act and Passport Act. After trial, the Special Judge (CBI) convicted Singh in 2006 and sentenced him to imprisonment under IPC and PC Act.
Before the High Court, the appellant argued that incriminating circumstances were not properly put to him under Section 313 CrPC and contended that he had personally verified the addresses before submitting his report. He also argued that sanction under Section 197 CrPC ought to have been obtained.
Rejecting the appeal, the High Court relied on testimonies of residents and a postman who stated that no person by the name mentioned in the passport applications had ever resided at the addresses in question and that no police verification had been conducted there.
“It is apparent that a false report had been given by A1 (Sube Singh) on the basis of which the passport was issued. Therefore, the offence under Section 13(1)(d)(ii) of the PC Act is clearly made out,” it said.
Coming to the offence of criminal conspiracy, the Court said, it is seldom possible to give direct evidence to prove a case of criminal conspiracy.
In the case on hand there was no direct evidence of any criminal conspiracy. However, the Court held, “conspiracy can be inferred from the circumstances also.”
Since the materials on record sufficiently established that the former ASI had helped one of the accused obtain a passport using false particulars, the Court dismissed the appeal.
Appearance: Mr. Mukesh Birla, Mr. Parveen Kumar, Mr. Nizamuddin and Mr. Sube Singh, Advocates for Appellant; Mr. Atul Guleria, SPP with Mr. Aryan Rakesh, Advocate for CBI
Case title: Sube Singh v. CBI
Case no.: CRL.A. 1063/2006