High Court grants bail to ex-MLA Satkar Kaur Gehri, husband in graft case

Chandigarh, January 15

The Punjab and Haryana High Court has granted bail to ex-MLA Satkar Kaur Gehri and her husband Jasmail Singh in a corruption case. Among other things, Justice Vikas Bahl took note of the fact that both petitioners were arrested on September 18, 2023. The investigation was complete and challan presented before the trial court. Besides this, none of the 48 prosecution witnesses had been examined. As such, the trial’s conclusion was likely to take time.

Gehri was elected MLA from the Ferozepur constituency from 2017 to 2022. The state’s stand in the matter was that Rs 2,82,45,753 was found to be in excess of the income earned by the petitioners from their known sources from April 1, 2017, to March 31, 2022. It was, as such, disproportionate.

The petitioners, on the other hand, argued that the FIR was registered following political vendetta as they were opposed to the ruling party in Punjab. There was more than a year’s delay in registering the FIR inasmuch as Gehri had last held office in March 2022, while case was registered on September 18, 2023. The delay itself was casting a shadow of doubt on the veracity of the allegations.

Taking up the matter, Justice Bahl observed the petitioners’ case was that they fully cooperated with the Vigilance inquiry that continued for about seven months. They went to the Vigilance Bureau office every time they were called and even submitted documents in their possession and sought by the bureau.

It was also argued that several entries regarding income earned by the petitioners, supported by documents such as bank statements, were not considered by the investigating agency. On the other hand, several items had been wrongly included as expenditure incurred by the petitioners.

Justice Bahl asserted: “The present case is based on documentary evidence and the documents are with the prosecution and the investigation qua the petitioners is complete and the report under Section 173 (2) CrPC (challan or final investigation report) has already been submitted and thus, no useful purpose would be served by keeping the petitioners in further incarceration”.

Justice Bahl added all questions regarding admissibility, relevance and genuineness of the documents submitted by both the parties were kept open to be finally considered and adjudicated upon during the course of trial.

Were held in September

• Satkar Gehri and her husband were arrested on September 18, 2023
• She was MLA from Ferozepur from 2017 to 2022
• A total of Rs 2,82,45,753 was found to be in excess of their income