Himachal Pradesh High Court
Tanuja Chandola vs Of on 20 October, 2023
Author: Sushil Kukreja
Bench: Sushil Kukreja
IN THE HIGH COURT OF HIMACHAL PRADESH, SHIMLA Cr.MPs(M) No. 1786 & 1787 of 2023 Reserved on: 10.10.2023 .
Decided on: 20.10.2023
1. Cr.MP(M) No. 1786 of 2023:
Tanuja Chandola ....Petitioner Versus of State of Himachal Pradesh ...Respondent
2. Cr.MP(M) No. 1787 of 2023:
Suraj Chandola rt ....Petitioner
Versus
State of Himachal Pradesh
...Respondent
Coram
The Hon'ble Mr. Justice Sushil Kukreja, Judge. Whether approved for reporting?1 In both the petitions:
For the petitioner(s): Mr. Kulwant Singh Gill, Advocate.
For the respondent/State:
Mr. B.N. Sharma, Additional Advocate General.
____________________________________________________ Sushil Kukreja, Judge.
The instant bail applications have been preferred by the petitioners under Section 438 of the Code of Criminal Procedure for releasing them on bail, in the event of their arrest, in case FIR No. 194 of 2023, dated 13.07.2023, under Sections 1 Whether reporters of Local Papers may be allowed to see the judgment?::: Downloaded on - 20/10/2023 20:40:09 :::CIS 2
387, 389, 416, 506 and 120B of Indian Penal Code (for short "IPC"), registered at Police Station Nalagarh, District Solan, H.P..
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2. The facts, which emerge from the records, can be summarized as under:
2(a). On 13.07.2023, police received a complaint, which was forwarded from the Court of learned Additional Chief Judicial of Magistrate, Nalagarh, District Solan, H.P., wherein the complainant Vivek Mahajan stated that during the month of rt January, 2023, through Tinder app, he came in contact with petitioner and she personated herself to be Apurva and later on introduced herself as Tanuja Chandola. Subsequently, when the petitioner-Tanuja and the complainant became friends on social media, the petitioner started raising demands for small amounts and the complainant made certain transactions, through Google Pay of his wife Vandana Mahajan. During the month of February, 2023, when the petitioner started raising demands of huge amounts, the complainant refused and heated arguments were exchanged between them and the complainant blocked the petitioner. The complainant further stated in his complaint that on 25.04.2023, during the night, the petitioner-Tanuja sent him a message on Telegram app and requested him to meet her, as she was coming alongwith her 2-3 friends to Nalagarh for some ::: Downloaded on - 20/10/2023 20:40:09 :::CIS 3 work. The petitioner also asked the complainant to arrange a hotel for their stay and to send false mail on her email ID for .
some false job interview. The complainant sent a mail, on the asking of the petitioner-Tanuja on her email ID and he booked a room in Hotel Kara in his own name on 26.04.2023. On 26.04.2023 the complainant met the petitioner-Tanuja near Kara of Hotel and she was accompanied by petitioner-Suraj Chandola.
The petitioner-Tanuja introduced the petitioner-Suraj to the rt complainant, as her boy friend. After meeting for few minutes, the complainant returned home and the petitioners, without occupying the room, went somewhere in their car. On 29.04.2023 the petitioner-Tanuja again started raising demands for huge amounts from the complainant, through Telegram app, and she started threatening him that in case her demands of money are not fulfilled, she would implicate the complainant in a false case of rape and such threats continued till 05.05.2023. On 05.05.2023, the complainant again received messages of illegal demands, therefore, he reported the matter to SHO, Police Station Manpura, and in sequel thereto, the SHO, Police Station Manpura, made a call to the petitioner-Tanuja but she refused to come. On 09.05.2023 the petitioner-Tanuja made a false complaint to H.P. Cyber Cell, Shimla, wherein she alleged that ::: Downloaded on - 20/10/2023 20:40:09 :::CIS 4 the complainant had committed rape on her on 26.04.2023 at Kara Hotel, Nalagarh and in addition to this, she leveled .
allegations against HC Jitender Singh and the wife of the complainant. Resultantly, FIR No. 172 of 2023, dated 14.06.2023, under Sections 376, 506 and 34 IPC was registered at Police Station, Nalagarh against the complainant and his wife.
of On 06.05.2023, the complainant received some Whatsapp messages on his mobile phone from some unknown international rt number and the person introduced himself/herself as Cindrella from United States. The complainant further stated in his complaint that during the period from 29.04.2023 to 05.05.2023, when illegal demands of extortion were being made by the petitioner-Tanuja, she was inquiring about his family, his financial and business details through Facebook messenger from one of his friends Prit Pal Singh Rana, which means that the petitioner-
Tanuja was planning to trap him in a false case of rape. In the above backdrop, the complainant prayed the Court to pass directions to SHO, Police Station Nalagarh to register a case under Sections 387, 389, 416, 506 and 120B IPC against the petitioners.
3. On the basis of the complaint made by the complainant, which was forwarded to police by the Court of ::: Downloaded on - 20/10/2023 20:40:09 :::CIS 5 learned Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate, Nalagarh, District Solan, H.P., police registered a case against the petitioners .
under the apt Sections of IPC and the investigation commenced.
Police recorded the statements of the witnesses and as per the directions of this Court on 23.07.2023 the petitioner joined the investigation of
4. The learned counsel for the petitioners contended that the petitioners are completely innocent and they have not rt committed any offence in question. He further contended that the present FIR has been registered against the petitioners just with a view to counter the FIR of rape filed by the petitioner-
Tanuja Chandola against the complainant-Vivek Mahajan and his wife. He also submitted that both the petitioners deserve to be released on bail, as the investigation in the case is complete and their custodial interrogation is not required.
5. On the other hand, learned Additional Advocate General opposed the bail applications on the ground that keeping in view the gravity of the offences alleged to have been committed by the petitioners, they are not entitled to be released on bail. He further submitted that the investigation in the case is still in progress and the petitioners are not co-operating with the ::: Downloaded on - 20/10/2023 20:40:09 :::CIS 6 investigating agency, as such their custodial interrogation is required for the effective investigation of the case.
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6. I have heard the learned Counsel for the petitioners, learned Additional Advocate General for the respondent-State and carefully examined the record.
7. It is a settled law that the anticipatory bail can be of granted only in exceptional circumstances where the Court is, prima facie, of the view that the petitioner has been falsely rt implicated in the offence. Being an extraordinary remedy, it should be resorted to only in a special case. Though, it would be inappropriate to discuss the evidence in depth at this stage, because it may influence the trial Court, but the evidence collected during the investigation, prima facie, indicates the involvement of the petitioners in a serious offence of threatening the complainant and extortion of money by orchestrating an intricate honey trap to falsely accuse the complainant of sexual assault in a Hotel at Nalagarh.
8. During the course of investigation, police procured the bank statements of the petitioner-Tanuja and found transaction of 12-13 lacs in her bank account from different persons. As per the police, the petitioner-Tanuja is involved in trapping many people and demanded money from them. On ::: Downloaded on - 20/10/2023 20:40:09 :::CIS 7 15.08.2023, the petitioners joined the investigation and petitioner-Suraj produced four mobile phones, out of which two .
were broken. He also produced a laptop and a car, which were taken into possession. As per the police, one tab and mobile phones are yet to be taken into possession, but the petitioner-
Suraj told the police that he had sold the same. Data analysis of report of the mobile phones of the petitioners, their laptop and tab are yet to be recovered. It was also unearthed during the rt investigation that in total 21 persons sent money to the bank account of the petitioner-Tanuja and she provided phone numbers of some of the persons and she further disclosed that she knew all the persons, who had sent money in her bank account and the above persons are yet to be associated in the investigation.
9. As per the record, the petitioner-Tanjua produced a list of persons, who transferred money in her account and out of these persons, one Deepak Kumar got his statement recorded under Section 161 Cr.P.C. who stated that during the month of October, 2023, he obtained the agency of CHAMET APP and on 03.03.2023 petitioner-Tanuja opened an account in the above app and he was regularly depositing money in Tanuja Chandola account in lieu of working on this adult app. Deepak Kumar also ::: Downloaded on - 20/10/2023 20:40:09 :::CIS 8 stated that he talked with the petitioner-Tanuja on her phone and she used to asked him that how she could become a millionaire.
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Thereafter, during the month of June, 2023, petitioner-Tanuja opened her CHAMET APP account directly and money started coming in her account. As per the police, the petitioners have disclosed their wrong residential address and it was unearthed of that petitioners have a computer lab at some place and the exact location of the same is yet to be ascertained.
10. rt During the investigation, one Prit Pal Singh disclosed that the name of the petitioner-Tanuja on Facebook was Vanshika Kashyap. He further disclosed that he used to chat with the petitioner-Tanuja, through Facebook, Messenger, Telegram and Whatsapp and she told him that she had raised a demand in the sum of rupees twenty lacs from the complainant for withdrawing case of rape against him. As per Prit Pal Singh, the petitioner-Tanuja requested him to help her in extracting money from the complainant and in lieu thereof she offered him (Shri Prit Pal Singh) an amount of rupees two lacs. Police took into possession the mobile phone of Shri Prit Pal Singh and send it to SFSL, Junga, for examination.
11. During the course of investigation, the police found that two cases were already registered against the petitioners, ::: Downloaded on - 20/10/2023 20:40:09 :::CIS 9 i.e. FIR. (1) No. 253/20 dated 10.09.2020 U/s 384, 388, 504, 506 IPC ,Police Station Lal Kuan Nainital U.K. (against Tanuja .
Chandola) (2) FIR No. 111/20 U/S POCSO Act has been registered at Police Station Lal Kuan Nainital U.K. (against Suraj Chandola). Tanuja Chandola was using five mobile phones but she could not produce single mobile phone. The mobile phones of of different make, one tab, one CPU and the setup lab where the accused Suraj Chandola continuously used to temper the audio rt and video are still to be recovered. Beside this the IMEI Numbers of already recovered mobile phones have been tempered with and when asked about the same during investigation, the accused refused to reply. The accused Tanuja Chandola and Suraj Chandola during investigation never admitted to have heavy transaction in their account whereas when verified it was found to be near 19,00,000/-( Nineteen Lacs) from 20.1.2023 to 24.7.2023 and the account statement of Tanuja Chandola reflects that she received money from Fuliao Hong Kong Limited which is a sister concern of Chamet App. Both the accused were asked about the source of income but they refused to disclose the actual facts. The investigation officer asked about the multi bank account entries but they again refused to disclose the same. As per the police, both the accused regularly jumped the ::: Downloaded on - 20/10/2023 20:40:09 :::CIS 10 investigation process as they were granted interim bail on 21.7.2023 and are still on interim bail but till date, out of 80 days, .
the accused have joined investigation only for 16 days which is seriously effecting the speed and process of the investigation.
As per the status report, on 24.07.2023 the petitioners joined the investigation, but after lunch the petitioner-Tanuja left the police of station without informing the police and a medical slip of CHC Baddi was received through email at Police Station, Nalagarh, rt wherein it was mentioned that she was ill and could not join the futher investigation. The aforesaid medical slip was verified by the Police firstly on 25.7.2023 and was found fake and to cross check, the medical slip was again verified from SMO Baddi on 18.9.2023 and was again found to be fake.
12. Once the allegations against the petitioners are of such type, they cannot claim anticipatory bail as a matter of right.
It is a settled law that the provisions for grant of anticipatory bail under Section 438 of Cr. P.C., are not to be mechanically applied. Nature and gravity of the offence, the position and status of the accused with reference to the victim and witnesses, likelihood of the accused fleeing from justice, possibility of the accused tampering with the evidence and larger public interest are some of the considerations which must weigh with the Court ::: Downloaded on - 20/10/2023 20:40:09 :::CIS 11 while deciding the application for grant of anticipatory bail.
Liberty of a citizen is indeed of a paramount importance, but at .
the same time, fair and fearless investigation of case of a serious nature is of no less importance. The Court shall refrain from exercising its discretion in favour of the accused under Section 438, Cr.P.C., if it adversely affects the investigation and larger of public interest. In view of the serious nature of allegations against them, a wall cannot be created between the Investigating rt Agency and the petitioners. The petitioners were granted interim bail by this Court on 21.07.2023 and they were ordered to join the investigation of the case, but as per the status report, the petitioners are not cooperating with the Investigating Agency.
Since the petitioners are alleged to be involved in the commission of a serious offence and are not co-operating with the Investigating Agency, their custodial interrogation is necessary for the proper investigation of the case.
13. Therefore, in view of the facts and circumstances of the case as the investigation in this case is still in progress, grant of anticipatory bail to the petitioners is likely to hamper the progress of the investigation as such, this Court does not find any exceptional ground to exercise its discretionary jurisdiction under Section 438, Cr.P.C. to grant them anticipatory bail.
::: Downloaded on - 20/10/2023 20:40:09 :::CIS 12Hence, looking into the nature and gravity of offence and severity of punishment, in my considered view, the petitioners do not .
deserve to be released on bail as such, the present anticipatory bail applications are liable to be dismissed being devoid of merits.
14. Accordingly, both the bail applications are dismissed of and the interim protection granted to the petitioners, vide order dated 21.07.2023, stands withdrawn.
15. rt Before parting with this order, it is hereby clarified that the aforesaid observations made in this order, have been made only for the purpose of considering the present petitions for anticipatory bail. Therefore, the same shall not come in the way of the trial court for considering the application that may be filed by the petitioners for regular bail or at the time of the trial and the trial Court concerned shall not be influenced by the observations made hereinabove.
Cr.MPs No. 3358 and 3359 of 2023
16. These applications have been preferred by the petitioners under Sections 482 read with Section 340 Cr.P.C. for filing false status report/affidavit in FIR No. 194 of 2023, dated 13.06.2023, under Sections 387, 389, 416 and 506 IPC, registered at Police Station Nalagarh, District Solan, H.P..
::: Downloaded on - 20/10/2023 20:40:09 :::CIS 1317. As per the petitioners, they, being husband and wife, have been falsely roped in in the above mentioned case. It is .
averred that the Investigating Officer under the instructions of SHO and in connivance with each other filed the status report thrice on 18.07.2023, 01.08.2023 and 23.08.2023 before this Court and they have manipulated the facts and also averred of wrong and misleading statements. As per the petitioners, on 24.07.2023, petitioner (Tanuja) fell ill and she visited CHC, rt Baddi, and this fact can be verified by summoning the record as well as from the CCTV footage, whereas the Investigating Officer and SHO, vide their status report dated 01.08.2023 stated that on 24.07.2023 petitioner-Tanuja joined the investigation, but after lunch she went without informing and prescription slip was emailed on the email address of the Police Station.
18. The petitioners further averred that they had no connection with one Pritpal Singh, whose name figured in the status report. As per the allegations, the petitioner (Tanuja) used to chat with different persons through CHAMET app, developed in Hong Kong and on 24.07.2023 she received money, whereas the petitioner (Tanuja) was forced to install app in the police station and in lieu thereof she received bonus of Rs.600/- on 24.07.2023. The respondent stated in the police report that ::: Downloaded on - 20/10/2023 20:40:09 :::CIS 14 petitioner (Tanuja) had received 12-13 lacs from 21 persons, whereas, as per the petitioners, petitioner (Tanuja) opened the .
account in question only in the month of January, 2023, and as per the statement of account, only about three lacs have been credited in her account, out of which 2 lacs were credited by one of their relatives and rest of the amount was credited by her of relatives and friends.
19. The petitioners also averred that they joined the investigation rt on 25.08.2023, 26.08.2023, 27.08.2023, 29.08.2023, 01.09.2023, 02.09.2023, 03.09.2023, 05.09.2023, 06.09.2023, 08.09.2023 and 09.09.2023. As per the petitioners, the SHO concerned was pressuring them for giving bribe, recording whereof is with the petitioners. Even the SHO met the petitioners outside the police station and demanded money, in lieu of which he assured to manage their bail. Instead of conducting fair investigation, the IO pressurized the petitioners for joining the investigation before the Cyber Cell and mobile numbers of the petitioners were put on surveillance without any formal orders from the competent Court/Authority. Lastly, it is prayed that the applications of the petitioners may be allowed and an inquiry may be initiated against the Investigating Officer in the aforesaid FIR as well as against the SHO concerned.
::: Downloaded on - 20/10/2023 20:40:09 :::CIS 1520. The respondent/State, by filing reply to Cr.MP No. 3359 of 2023 (in Cr.MP(M) No. 1787 of 2023), resisted and .
contested the averments made in the applications. As per the respondent/State, the petitioners wrongly read the status report, dated 01.08.2023, which was filed by SHO, Police Station Nalagarh, in this Court. It was stated in the report that on of 23.07.2023, the petitioners had joined the investigation and produced a mobile phone to the Investigating Officer, which was rt taken into possession. On 24.07.2023, the petitioners again joined the investigation, but after lunch, petitioner-Tanuja left the police station without informing the police and a slip of CHC Baddi was received, through email, in Police Station, Nalagarh, wherein it was mentioned that she was ill and could not join further investigation. As the act of the petitioner-Tanuja raised suspicion, SHO, Police Station, Nalagarh, wrote a letter to SMO, CHC, Baddi, and it was found that the petitioner had prepared a forged document in order to mislead the investigating agency.
The petitioner-Tanuja had earlier sent a complaint, dated 14.06.2023, to Police Station Nalagarh, for registration of FIR under Section 376 IPC and the Investigating Officer therein requested her to co-operate, but she made excuses, therefore, a SIT was constituted and resultantly FIR No. 172 of 2023 was ::: Downloaded on - 20/10/2023 20:40:09 :::CIS 16 registered in Police Station Nalagarh. In the instant case, the petitioners are not joining the investigation, despite the orders of .
this Court and on 06.08.2023 petitioner-Tanuja sent admission slip of hospital, dated 31.07.2023. It is further averred that on 31.07.2023 statement of Preet Pal Singh was recorded under Section 161 Cr.P.C. and he stated that he had conversation with of petitioner-Tanuja on Facebook messenger, Telegram and Whatsapp. The bank record of the petitioner-Tanuja also rt revealed that she received money from different bank accounts and some amounts have been received when petitioner-Tanuja after she used CHAMET app.
21. As per the respondent/State, the petitioners joined the investigation on 25.08.2023, 26.08.2023, 27.08.2023, 29.08.2023, 01.09.2023, 02.09.2023, 03.09.2023, 05.09.2023, 06.09.203, 08.09.2023 and 09.09.2023. It is averred that in case FIR No. 172 of 2023, SIT had been constituted, therefore, there is no role of single Investigating Officer. Moreover, investigation of case FIR No.172 of 2023 is already complete and on 14.08.2023 challan has been presented in the learned Trial Court. It is also averred that petitioner-Tanuja had lodged FIR No. 111 of 2020 under Sections 376, 385 and 509 IPC against petitioner-Suraj, who is her husband and said matter has now ::: Downloaded on - 20/10/2023 20:40:09 :::CIS 17 been closed after their marriage. Lastly, it is prayed that the instant applications, being devoid of merits, may be dismissed.
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22. It is a settled law that fair trial and fair investigation are part of constitutional rights guaranteed under Articles 20 and 21 of the Constitution of India. It needs to be appreciated that it's always the Fair investigation that would result in Fair trial.
of Therefore, the minimum requirement of rule of law is that the investigation must be fair, transparent and judicious. The rt investigating agency cannot be permitted to conduct an investigation in a tainted and biased manner so as to take away the basic fundamental right of the accused who as per law is to be presumed innocent till proved guilty. Defective investigation tends to shake the faith reposed by the members of the society including the suspect/accused as well as victim. The most effected would be the accused because he/she has to be presumed to be innocent till proved guilty and tainted investigation would curtail his/her freedom i.e. life and liberty guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution of India. In Nirmal Singh Kahlon vs State of Punjab & Ors (2009)1 SCC 441, it has been held by the Hon'ble Apex Court as under:-
"28. An accused is entitled to a fair investigation. Fair investigation and fair trial are concomitant to preservation of ::: Downloaded on - 20/10/2023 20:40:09 :::CIS 18 fundamental right of an accused under Article 21 of the society. A victim of a crime, thus, is equally entitled to a fair investigation the Constitution of India. But .
the State has a larger obligation i.e. to maintain law and order, public order and preservation of peace and harmony." ...
... ... ... ...
23. The allegations leveled against the petitioners against the police officials are very serious in nature, therefore, of in my opinion, if the present Investigating Agency is given a free hand and things are left to its whims, the investigation may go rt haywire. Hence, to ensure fair and proper investigation, the Senior Superintendent of Police, Police District Baddi, is directed to constitute Special Investigation Team to entrust the investigation of the present FIR No. 194 of 2023, dated 13.07.2023, under Sections 387, 389, 416, 506 and 120B IPC, registered at Police Station Nalagarh, District Solan, H.P..
24. The allegations leveled by the petitioners prima facie reveal that the persons responsible for upholding the law and safeguarding the citizens' rights have themselves transformed into aggressors through the blatant misuse of the police powers.
Therefore, to balance the equities and in the larger interest of justice, it is deemed appropriate that a Special Investigation ::: Downloaded on - 20/10/2023 20:40:09 :::CIS 19 Team (SIT) should be constituted to conduct an inquiry into the allegations of misconduct leveled by the petitioners against the .
concerned police officials of Police Station Nalagarh.
25. Hence, the Director General of Police, Himachal Pradesh, is directed to constitute a Special Investigation Team headed by a police officer, not below the rank of Deputy of Inspector General of Police to conduct an inquiry into the allegations of misconduct leveled by the petitioners against the rt concerned police officials of Police Station Nalagarh and to submit its report before this Court within a period of eight weeks from today. Needless to say that tainted investigation can erode the confidence and faith reposed by the people in the criminal justice system of the country. In order to ensure that the common man may not loose the faith and confidence in the criminal justice system, the Secretary (Home) to the Government of H.P./Director General of Police are directed to transfer the Sub Divisional Police Officer, Nalagarh, who is the Supervisory Officer for the Police Station Nalagarh, Station House Officer, Police Station Nalagarh as well as the Investigating Officer, i.e., SI Ashok Rana, from the present place of posting in the larger interest of public.::: Downloaded on - 20/10/2023 20:40:09 :::CIS 20
26. In view of what has been discussed hereinabove, the applications are disposed of.
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( Sushil Kukreja ) th 20 October, 2023 Judge (virender) of rt ::: Downloaded on - 20/10/2023 20:40:09 :::CIS