Woman Accused Of Duping People By Posing As Prime Minister's Advisor Moves Supreme Court For Bail

The Supreme Court today (May 18) issued notice to the State of Maharashtra on the bail plea by Kashmira Sandip Pawar, who is accused of cheating people by personating herself to be the national advisor to the Prime Minister's Office. 

A bench comprising Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice Satish Chandra Sharma issued notice after briefly hearing the petitioner's counsel, Senior Advocate Sudhanshu S Choudhari. 

Choudhari mentioned that the present FIR was lodged with a two-year delay and stated that there is no material/recovery by the State to prove that she duped Rs. 14 crore in cash. He stated that it amounts to jeopardy because two similar FIRs on the same offence have been registered on the same set of allegations.

Before issuing notice, Justice Sharma termed it a strange case which he had never heard of.

As per the brief facts, the Bombay High Court denied bail in two separate cases to the accused persons, Kashmira and Ganesh Gaikwad for the offences punishable under Sections 170, 420, 465, 467, 468, 469, 470, 471, 472, 473, and 120(B) of the Indian Penal Code, and under Section 66(c) of the Information Technology Act.

The allegations are that between December 11, 2017, and July 27, 2023, both accused misused one of the achievements of Kashmira, having participated in the 'Make in India' project and 'Smart Village', projected and falsely projected that she was appointed as the National Advisor to the PMO, New Delhi.

Further, it is alleged that they forged documents, including letterhead of the PMO and represented that Kashmira was in a position to procure high-value government tenders, including tenders for the supply of school uniforms in Maharashtra, food supply contracts in Kashmir, and the supply of bedsheets and blankets to the Defence Ministry. Based on these forged materials, they formed various companies of investors and induced the persons to invest money.

An amount of Rs. 14, 49,50,163 is alleged to have been invested by the complainants and other persons for obtaining the said tenders. It was only when the newspaper reported and arrested the accused persons that the complainants lodged the present complaint.

Justice Vrushali V Joshi of the High Court denied bail, stating that during the investigation, it was found that the forged documents were transmitted through a router, which was seized during the search of her residence. The Court didn't accept the defence that there was nothing incriminating seized against the accused persons.

Case : KASHMIRA SANDIP PAWAR Vs THE STATE OF MAHARASHTRA | SLP(Crl) No. 8731-8732/2026

Filed through AoR Prashant Shrikant Kenjale