MP High Court Initiates Suo Moto Criminal Contempt Against BJP MLA For Attempting To Influence Judge In Illegal Mining Case
The Madhya Pradesh High Court on Thursday (April 02) directed its Registry to initiate suo motu criminal contempt proceedings against BJP MLA Sanjay Pathak from Vijayraghavgarh constituency for improperly contacting a sitting judge in connection with an illegal mining case.
The division bench of Chief Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva and Justice Vinay Saraf directed,
"...the Registry to register a suo motu Criminal Contempt Petition against Mr Sanjay Satyendra Pathak and list the Criminal Contempt Petition before the Court on 06.04.2026".
The development comes in a petition filed by Ashutosh Dixit, a whistleblower, seeking a direction to take judicial cognisance of the attempt made by Pathak to improperly contact and influence a Judge in writ petition 28456/2025.
The petitioner was referring to a September 2025 incident where Pathak tried to contact Justice Vishal Mishra to discuss the illegal mining case pending before him.
Following the attempted contact, Judge Mishra had recused himself from the matter.
Per a news report, the illegal iron ore excavation of INR 440 crores, while accruing INR 80 crores in penalties for alleged GST evasion. The companies under suspicion, Nirmala Minerals, Anand Mining and Pacific Export, are allegedly linked to the BJP MLA.
In the present petition, the bench noted that the conduct of Pathak amounted to prima facie criminal contempt.
Accordingly, the petition was disposed of with directions to the Registry to register a suo motu criminal contempt petition.
Case Title: Ashutosh Dixit v State of Madhya Pradesh [WP-4699-2026]
For Petitioner: Advocates Arvind Kumar Shrivastava and Puneet Shroti
For State: Government Advocate Anubhav Jain
For High Court: Advocate Akash Choudhary
For Sanjay Pathak: Senior Advocate Anil Khare with Advocate Siddharth Shukla