'Fictitious' Advocate, 'Forged' Signatures? Allahabad High Court Orders FSL Probe Into Alleged Impersonation In PIL Filed By Lawyer

The Allahabad High Court last week directed a forensic examination of multiple signatures on record after prima facie discrepancies surfaced in a pending PIL case which suggested possible impersonation, forgery, fabrication and misuse of the judicial process. A Bench of Chief Justice Arun Bhansali and Justice Kshitij Shailendra passed the order while dealing with an application u/S 379 BNSS filed by Respondent No. 5 to initiate inquiry against the petitioner on the allegation that she filed a false affidavit and forged documents, including signatures of his counsel. Case in brief Briefly put, the PIL filed by Sangeeta Gupta, an advocate herself, challenged the Committee of Management election of Fateh Memorial Inter College, Kushinagar, held in 2023. During the proceedings, Respondent No. 5 alleged that the petitioner, along with Advocates AP Singh and Ashraf Ali, were acting in collusion and were committing 'gross' abuse of the process of Court by filing frivolous petitions, using the same address and phone number and fabricating documents. An affidavit was also filed by the son of the Manager of the institution alleging that Gupta forged the signatures of his advocate on a withdrawal application and that 'Ashraf Ali' was a fictitious identity created by Advocate AP Singh for his 'nefarious' designs and whose ID was being used to file cases. It was further stated that Singh had a history of various criminal cases and was in hands in gloves with unscrupulous elements causing all nuisance. The affidavit also annexed screenshots of several cases wherein either the petitioner was represented by Singh and/or Ali, or Ali was represented by Singh or Singh was represented by Ali or by Sangeeta Gupta (the petitioner). The petitioner, on the other hand, denied the allegations as she stated that she had personally served the withdrawal application on the advocate of respondent no. 5. She also maintained that the PIL simply challenged the 2023 election. In rejoinder, Respondent No. 5 asserted that his advocate had never even met the petitioner and thus, it was impossible for him to have received the withdrawal application. He also claimed that the signatures attributed to him were forged. The affidavit further alleged that Singh used the mobile number registered to Ashraf Ali and even shared the same profile picture.HC order Throughout the hearings, the Court also noted repeated instances where different individuals appeared claiming to be 'Ashraf Ali'. In fact, On 20 August 2025, the Court directed the person appearing as 'Ashraf Ali' to put his signatures before the Bench Secretary on the order sheet. These signatures, the Bench observed, were apparently different from those on the writ petition, withdrawal application and the courier delivery sheet. The Court also recorded a report submitted by the Registry indicating that 23 PILs had been filed either by Sangeeta Gupta with Ashraf Ali and/or AP Singh as counsel, by Ashraf Ali with AP Singh as counsel, or by AP Singh himself. The Bench, however, deferred deciding the allegations of abuse of process at this stage. However, focusing on the Section 379 BNSS application and considering the allegations of impersonation, forgery, fabrication and identity, the bench found it appropriate to direct an examination of signatures by the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL), Lucknow. Therefore, the Registrar General was directed to send the following original documents to the FSL after retaining photocopies: The original writ petition; The original Withdrawal Application; The original page of the order sheet containing the signatures made on August 20; The original Vakalatnama of March 18, 2025 signed by counsel for respondent no. 5; and The original Delivery Run Sheet issued by the Courier company. The FSL has been directed to submit a “clear report” within one month indicating whether the signatures of 'Ashraf Ali / A. Ali' across all documents were made by the same person and whether the signatures attributed to the advocate for respondent no. 5 on the withdrawal application matched those on his vakalatnama. The matter will be taken up next on January 6, 2026.

'Fictitious' Advocate, 'Forged' Signatures? Allahabad High Court Orders FSL Probe Into Alleged Impersonation In PIL Filed By Lawyer

Sparsh Upadhyay

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