Delhi District Court
Cbi vs . Mahanand Sharma & Ors. (Rpf Cghs) on 20 November, 2018
IN THE COURT OF SH. ASHUTOSH KUMAR
SPECIAL JUDGE02 (PC ACT): CBI
NORTHWEST: ROHINI COURTS, DELHI.
CC No. (old): 19/2010
CC No. (New):74/2016
RC No. 15(E)/2005/EOWI/CBI/ND
CBI Vs. Mahanand Sharma & Ors. (RPF CGHS)
CBI Vs. Jogender Pal Marwah (A7)
Son of Sh. Piyara Ram
R/o H.No. 297, Deepali Pitampura,
Delhi34.
Date of arguments : 20/11/2018
Date of Judgment: 20/11/2018
JUDGMENT
1. Prosecution case in brief is that the Regional Provident Fund CGHS was registered on 31.1.1984 vide Regn. No. 1427GH with 90 original members having its registered office at No. 60, Skylark Bhawan, 7 th Floor, Nehru Place, New Delhi. On 31.7.1985, Sh. Ved Prakash, the then Secretary of the society forwarded a list of 90 members to the Registrar Cooperative Society (RCS) for approval and forwarding the freeze list to the DDA for allotment of land to the society.
2. The Elections of Management Committee of the Society were not held till 1989. In view of this, a Show Cause Notice was served on the President/Secretary of the Society. However, despite several reminders no CC No. 74/2016 CBI Vs Mahanand Sharma & Anr. (J.P. Marwah) Page 1 of 15 response was received from the society as a result of which Sh. Ajay Kumar, the then Asstt. Registrar vide his Office Order dt. 6.12.1989 appointed Sh. V. Rama Krishna, Gr. IV, as Election Officer of the society to conduct its election within a month. However, Sh. V. Rama Krishna submitted a report dt. 7.3.1990 that Management Committee of the society had not cooperated with him and as such the election could not be conducted. Thereafter, two Show Cause Notices dt. 1.1.1991 and dt. 5.4.1991 were issued to the President/Secretary of the society by the Joint Registrar (GH). In addition, Sh. P. M. Tanwar, Asstt. Registrar was appointed as an Administrator vide order dt. 24.9.1991 to manage the affairs of the society as per the DCS Act, 1972 and Rules framed there under with the specific directions to get the accounts audited and the elections conducted. The Management Committee did not hand over the records of the society to the Administrator and therefore the same were taken over against a search warrant issued by SDM (South), Patiala House Court, New Delhi. Ultimately, the society was ordered to be wound up vide order dt. 10.7.1995 issued by Sh. B. L. Sharma, the then Dy. Registrar (South) and Narender Kumar, Inspector Gr. IV was appointed as Liquidator vide Office Order dt. 21.7.1995. However, Narender Kumar failed to submit any report about the liquidation proceedings conducted by him and instead requested the RCS to relieve him as he had been transferred to some other department. Narender Kumar handed over the records of the society to Ms. Reshma, (the dispatcher) on 18.8.2000 under proper acknowledgment. Further, Ramesh Chander (A4), the then Asstt. Registrar recorded a note dt. 1.2.2001 regarding the non CC No. 74/2016 CBI Vs Mahanand Sharma & Anr. (J.P. Marwah) Page 2 of 15 performance on the part of Narender Kumar and appointed M. C. Joshi as a Liquidator vide Office Order dt. 5.3.2001.
3. M. C. Joshi (A10) LDC & Liquidator of the society called for a Special General Body Meeting of the society on 1.4.2001 to seek opinion of the members regarding the revival/withdrawal of liquidation order of the society. On 10.3.2001, one S. P. Arora, Ex.President of the society applied for the revival of the society to AR (South). It may be mentioned here that two persons by the name "S. P. Arora" were the original members of the society. One of them is Sh. Surya Prakash Arora (original member) and other one is Sh. Suraj Prakash Arora (President of the society). However, both of them have denied to have made any such application to the RCS for the revival of the society, further denied to have participated in the Special General Body Meeting held on 1.4.2001 and stated that the minutes of the meeting does not bear their signatures. Further, affidavits purported to have been sworn by Sh. S. P. Arora, President and sh. S. P. Puri, Vice President to fulfill all the statutory liabilities of the society were also submitted to the RCS. During the course of revival proceedings, Sh. Suraj Prakash Arora formerly President, T.K. Basu Treasurer (Approver) and M. N. Sharma (A1) were shown as the members of the Management Committee. It has also come to light that one Sh. Amit Kumar Sharma, adv, nephew of M. N. Sharma appeared before Narayan Diwakar the then RCS.
4. When the society did not hand over the documents to Sh. P. M. CC No. 74/2016 CBI Vs Mahanand Sharma & Anr. (J.P. Marwah) Page 3 of 15 Tanwar, Administrator, a search warrant had been issued by SDM (South), Patiala House Court, New Delhi to conduct search in the Office of Society. At that time, Sh. Ved Prakash Gupta, the then Secretary of the Society and T. K. Basu handed over the records of the society to Sh. P. M. Tanwar on 27.8.1992 under acknowledgment. On 17.9.1992, both Sh. Ved Prakash Gupta and T. K. Basu informed the Administrator that the Cheque Book and Application Forms of the members enrolled had been misplaced. T. K. Basu had prepared an inventory of records and it has been mentioned in the said inventory that the membership register had been written from Sl. No. 1 to 93 with a list of 90 original members. Further, the Administrator neither accepted any registration of the original/promoter members of the society nor did he enroll any new members in the society. It may also be mentioned here that even prior to that the Management Committee had also not accepted resignation of any of the promoter members or had enrolled any new member. However, it would be pertinent to mention here that when the records of the society were returned by M. C. Joshi to T.K. Basu, the membership register had been found to be written up to Sl. No.
133. During the course of investigation Ashutosh Pant (A6), an employee of Ashwani Sharma (A3) has made the entries in the said register from Sl. No. 94 to 133 in 2001. It would not be out of place to mention here that Ashwani Sharma and Ashutosh Pant were also included as members against membership no. 96 and 97 added by the said Sh. Ashutosh Pant.
5. M. C. Joshi (A10) the then Liquidator took over the records of CC No. 74/2016 CBI Vs Mahanand Sharma & Anr. (J.P. Marwah) Page 4 of 15 the said society from Gopal Singh Bisht (A12) the then Dealing Asstt. of South Zone for which a receipt was obtained by G. S. Bisht on 5.3.2001 on the appointment letter of M. C. Joshi. It may also be mentioned here that this was done with a view to make it appear as if the documents had been obtained by M. C. Joshi from Narender Kumar while the same had actually been obtained by M. C. Joshi from Gopal Singh Bisht.
6. M. C. Joshi (A10) processed the liquidation proceedings in respect of 90 members up to Sl. No. 133. M. C. Joshi sent an Agenda notice to all the members of the society on 16.3.2001 for a Special General Body Meeting to be held on 1.4.2001. Further, the minutes of the Special General Body Meeting held on 1.4.2001 have been drafted in such a manner to show that the same was attended by 55 members, whereas, during the course of investigation, it has been established that the register was handed over to Ashwani Sharma who forged the signatures of the members in token of having attended the said meeting. Sh. S. S. Aswal, LDC has proved to have written a part of the proceedings in his hand writing while rest of the minutes had been relating to entires about the members completed by Sh. Ashwani Sharma. Accordingly to Sh. S. S. Aswal, only 1520 members attended the said Special General Body Meeting held at 60, Skylark Bhawan, Nehru Place, New Delhi. M. C. Joshi submitted a report dt. 1.5.2001 regarding the taking over of the records from the South Zone and also about the proceedings of the Special General Body Meeting conducted by him on 1.4.2001.
CC No. 74/2016 CBI Vs Mahanand Sharma & Anr. (J.P. Marwah) Page 5 of 157. The information about the RPF CGHS which had been declared defunct/liquidated and also about the availability of original records seems to have been passed on by G. S. Bisht to M. N. Sharma (A1) and Ashwani Sharma (A3). Subsequently, M. N. Sharma was introduced to Jogender Pal Marwaha (A7) and Rajender Kumar Khurana (A8) by one Sh. Ashwani Vij, a mediator who had received his remuneration in lieu of the services rendered by him. It was at this stage that Ashwani Sharma got access to the membership register and got added the names of 40 new members by Ashutosh Pant from Sl. No. 94 to 133, which included Ashwani Sharma, Ashutosh Pant and close relations of M. N. Sharma, J. P. Marwaha and R. K. Khurana. It may be mentioned here that this entry was antidated to 1990 1991 under the directions of M. N. Sharma who handed over the records to Ashwani Sharma from the RCS Office. It would be worthwhile to mention here that some of the newly enrolled members whose applications are not available on the record have denied their membership of the society, while others have stated that they were enrolled in the year 200001 without submitting any membership application/affidavit or verification. Investigation further revealed that Ashwani Sharma has forged the signatures of Sh. Surya Prakash Arora formerly President and Sh. S. P. Puri formerly, Vice President on their affidavits dt. 24.5.2001 and 12.7.2001 respectively submitted to the RCS for the revival of the society. Ashwani Sharma has further forged the signatures of Sh. Surya Prakash Arora, formerly President and Sh. Ved Prakash, formerly Secretary of the said CC No. 74/2016 CBI Vs Mahanand Sharma & Anr. (J.P. Marwah) Page 6 of 15 society on the Audit Report submitted to the RCS. However, GEQD opinion confirmed the writing of Ashwani Sharma on the Audit report, in the name of Sh. Ved Prakash and Surya Prakash. GEQD further confirmed the writing of Ashwani Sharma on the letters and affidavits in the name of Surya Prakash Arora, as President of the society to RCS for the revival purpose of the society. GEQD further confirmed the writing of Ashutosh Pant on the Membership register from Sl. No. 94 to 133.
8. Narayan Diwakar (A5) held a hearing in respect of this society on 9.6.2001 which was attended by M. N. Sharma, the socalled Management Committee Member, T. K. Basu (Approver), the then Treasurer and Sh. Amit Sharma, Advocate. Narayan Diwakar adjourned the hearing to 5.7.2001 on the ground that President and Secretary of the Society should personally appear before him on the next date of hearing. Further, on 5.7.2001, Narayan Diwakar marked the presence of Sh. S. P. Arora, ExPresident who assured him that members in the General Body Meeting held on 1.4.2001 had decided to get the society revived and to approach the DDA for allotment of land. Narayan Diwakar directed the President to file an affidavit to the effect that they will comply with all the statutory duties cast on them in accordance with DCS Act/Rules and by laws of the society. Narayan Diwakar had also directed the President to submit the records before AR (South) within 7 days and adjourned the matter on 2.8.2001. This is a clear cut misrepresentation on the part of Narayan Diwakar in as much as he recorded a false note about Sh. S. P. Arora, Ex. CC No. 74/2016 CBI Vs Mahanand Sharma & Anr. (J.P. Marwah) Page 7 of 15 President having attended the said hearing, which has been outrightly denied by Sh. Surya Prakash Arora. In compliance to the orders passed by Narayan Diwakar (A5), Ramesh Chander (A4), the then AR (South) fixed the date for verification of records on 26.7.2001. On 26.7.2001 he recorded a note that Sh. S. K. Arora, President and Sh. S. P. Puri, Secretary of the society appeared before him while infact it has come to light that neither Sh. S. P. Arora nor Sh. S. P. Puri had appeared before him and that Sh. Ramesh Chander recorded the presence of Sh. S. K. Arora, who is not in existence. It has further come to light that Ashwani Sharma had forged the signatures of S. P. Arora and S. P. Puri on the margin of the notesheet. It would be worthwhile to mention here that in his note dt. 5.7.2001 Narayan Diwakar had directed that "AR (South) shall verify the original records of the society and submit a verification report within 7 days". However, this was not done and Ramesh Chander did not submit the verification report. On 2.8.2001 Narayan Diwakar recorded another false note to the effect that Sh. S. P. Arora, Ex.President and T.K. Basu ExTreasurer had appeared before him and that order had been reserved. Narayan Diwakar passed an order for the revival of the society on 16.8.2001 but did not ensure that his earlier order dt. 5.7.2001 had been complied with by Ramesh Chander. Not only this, he did not insist for the verification of these records which points towards the fact that both of them were in hand and glove with builder Mafia and ordered for the revival of the society in a clandestine manner.
9. Vide revival order dt. 16.8.2001 passed by Narayan Diwakar, CC No. 74/2016 CBI Vs Mahanand Sharma & Anr. (J.P. Marwah) Page 8 of 15 Surender Singh (A11) was appointed as an Election Officer. However, Surender Singh did not conduct any election and instead the proceedings were completed by him in the RCS office only. Though, in the proceedings register he recorded a false proceedings yet the names of the members are in the hand writing of Ashwani Sharma who has also forged the signatures of these members. In this regard, the expert opinion confirmed this fact that Ashwani Sharma had forged the signatures of members shown present in the election proceeding. It is submitted that all these facts would point towards the involvement of Surender Singh in the conspiracy with Ashwani Sharma to establish the bogus election.
10. Narayan Diwakar vide his order dt. 16.8.2001 directed to complete the audit of the society and P. K. Thirwani (A9) was appointed as auditor of society. Investigation further revealed that no Management Committee member appeared before him for audit purpose and instead Ashwani Sharma produced all the records of the society and reaudited the records of the society for the period 1983 to 1986 which had already been audited by Sh. Kishan Sethi & Co. However, P. K. Thirwani again conducted the audit for the entire period i.e. 1983 to 2001 and on the Audit Report, Ashwani Sharma forged the signatures of Sh. Surya Prakash Arora, President and Sh. Ved Prakash, Secretary. S/Sh. S. P. Arora. Ved Prakash and T. K. Basu have denied their signatures on the said audit report. However, GEQD opinion confirmed that Ashwani Sharma had forged the signatures of Sh. Ved Prakash the Ex.Secretary of the Society on the Audit report and Naveen Kaushik forged the signatures of T. K. Basu Ex treasurer CC No. 74/2016 CBI Vs Mahanand Sharma & Anr. (J.P. Marwah) Page 9 of 15 of the society on the Audit report. It may also be mentioned here that P. K. Thirwani submitted an Audit Report Performa, which contained the signature of Sh. S. P. Puri, the then Vice President of the society who had signed as Secretary of the society. These signatures have been denied by Sh. S. P. Puri who has stated that he was never elected as Secretary of the society while on the other hand Ashwani Sharma forged the signatures of S. P. Puri as Secretary of the society. All these facts goes to prove the involvement of P. K. Thirwani in the matter because it was he only who permitted Ashwani Sharma to forge the signatures of the President, Secretary and Treasurer.
11. Some of the promoter members of the society had resigned during 200001 on receipt of cash payment of Rs.3,000/ to Rs.3,400/. Ten promoter members have stated that they were persuaded by T. K. Basu (Approver) and M. N. Sharma (A1) to submit their resignations on the ground that the society had become defunct and that their was no possibility of allotment of land to them. They were also persuaded to take refund of their money and submit resignations. It may be mentioned here that though the undated resignations were signed by these members during the period 200001 yet the same were antidated way back to 199091. It has further come to light that M. N. Sharma and T. K. Basu dishonestly and fraudulently submitted a forged resignation of Late Vijay Bhasin, (Membership No. 62) on 15.4.1990. It has been confirmed by Smt. Santosh Bhasin w/o Late Vijay Bhasin that he had not resigned from the society and CC No. 74/2016 CBI Vs Mahanand Sharma & Anr. (J.P. Marwah) Page 10 of 15 that he had expired on 22.9.1991. She denied his signatures on the resignation. Similarly, the resignation in respect of Late K. L. Khanna, another original member, who had expired on 17.11.1993, is a forged document which was furnished by Rejender Kumar Khurana and J. P. Marwaha during 200102. This fact has been proved by Smt. Ishwari Khanna W/o Late K. L. Khanna. It may thus be seen that Ramesh Chander, the then AR (South) had recommended for the revival of the society without verifying their original records as well memberships.
12. Director (RL), DDA, New Delhi vide his letter dt. 4.9.2003 requested the RCS to confirm the recommendations of 80 societies including RPF CGHS Ltd. having Regn. No. 1427 (GH). Sh. J. S. Sandhu, JR (Policy) Office of RCS confirmed to the DDA vide his letter dt. 24.9.2003 their recommendation for allotment of land to the 80 societies including RPF CGHS Ltd. Man Singh the then AR (South) had certified that the various societies including RPF CGHS were functional as per the inspection conducted by him.
13. Audit Report prepared by P. K. Thirwani which contains forged signatures of the office bearers of the society, shows the resignation of 40 members of the society during 199091, while in fact this was done during 200001. Investigation has established that all these resignations are forged. Further, in place of these members, bogus members had been enrolled which included the name of Ashwani Sharma and Ashutosh Pant.
CC No. 74/2016 CBI Vs Mahanand Sharma & Anr. (J.P. Marwah) Page 11 of 15Again in 200102, resignation of 20 members had been shown and in its place bogus members enrolled by J. P. Marwaha and Rajender Kumar Khurana amongst the newly enrolled members including Ashwani Sharma and Ashutosh Pant also figured. Subsequently, with resignation of Ashwani Sharma and Ashutosh Pant, the society changed hand and a Management Committee headed by S/Sh. Suresh Singhal, President, Vikas Narang, Vice President, Anil Mittal, Secretary, B. L. Bhardwaj, Treasurer, Niraj Narang. Ms. Payal, Ms. Anjali and Suman Pruthi (all Management Committee members) took over the society. However, during 20032004, 20 members were shown to have resigned which included 9 promoter members and 20 new members had been shown as enrolled. Investigation further revealed that 10 promoter members, out of 90 members, have confirmed their resignations in lieu of an amount of Rs.3,000/ from M. N. Sharma and T. K. Basu but they have denied to have resigned during 199091 and confirmed their resignations during 200001. The other remaining members have completely denied their resignations from the society and their resignations were forged.
14. The records were unauthorizedly made available by G. S. Bisht to M. N. Sharma and Ashwani Sharma and the membership register was manipulated by increasing the strength of the society from 94 to 133 by Ashutosh Pant. Non only this all the manipulations subsequently took place during 200001 when the forged resignations of the members were submitted to the RCS and instead some bogus members were enrolled in its CC No. 74/2016 CBI Vs Mahanand Sharma & Anr. (J.P. Marwah) Page 12 of 15 place. The officials of the RCS namely Ramesh Chander and Narayan Diwakar did not make any verifications, recorded false notes, revived the society on the basis of forged documents and recommended the same to the DDA for allotment of land.
15. Accused person in criminal conspiracy with each other had got the said society revived on the basis of fabricated records after showing the resignations of the promoter members and thereafter got the list of 90 members recommended by the office of RCS for allotment of land by the DDA.
16. As per statement u/s 161 Cr.P.C. of Ashwani Vij, Maha Nand Sharma (A1) was a property dealer and he had approached him to sell the membership of the society, and that he (i.e. Ashwani Vij) got the commission of Rs.12,000/ in cash for the sale/purchase of the membership of the society. He stated that one Raman Marwah agreed with Maha Nand Sharma (A1) to enroll seven members of his family from the back date. He stated that he got commission of Rs.12,000/ to settle the deal between Maha Nand Sharma (A1), Jogender Pal Marwah (A7) and Raman Marwah in the year 2001 for the enrollment of the members of their family. The register (D14) shows that name of Maha Nand Sharma (A1) is written at serial number 109, whereas the name of Jogender Pal Marwah (A7) is written at serial number 94, Ashwani Sharma at serial number 96 and Rajender Kumar Khurana (A8) at serial number 107. The statement under CC No. 74/2016 CBI Vs Mahanand Sharma & Anr. (J.P. Marwah) Page 13 of 15 Section 164 CrPC of Raman Marwah, [the son of accused Jogender Pal Marwah (A7)] shows that Jogender Pal Marwah (A7) who was also the builder, handling the society. The resignation in respect of Late Sh. K. L. Khanna, an original member, who expired on 17.11.1993, is a bogus document and the same was furnished by Rajender Pal Marwah and J. P. Marwah during 20012002 and that this fact has been claimed by Smt. Ishwari Khanna (PW20).
17. The forged resignation of Vijay Bhasin, who had already died, was also submitted. This fact has been claimed by PW Sh. Suresh Singhal in his statement u/s 161 Cr.P.C., who has stated that he was the president of the society in the year 2003 and that Jogender Pal Marwah (A7) had only given him resignation letters of members, receipt of refunds, membership register, proceedings register from 2001 and audited papers of the society from 1983 onwards and that before his becoming the president of the society, the documents of the society were in the custody of Jogender Pal Marwah (A7).
18. Vide order dated 21/02/2012, charge for the offences u/s u/s 120B read with Section 420, 468, 471 IPC and Section 13 (2) r/w Section 13 (1) (d) of P.C. Act 1988 and for the substantive offences u/s 420/511 IPC, u/s 468 IPC and u/s 471 IPC were ordered to be framed against accused Jogender Pal Marwah (A7). Accordingly charges for the said offences were framed against him on 27/02/2012, to which, he had CC No. 74/2016 CBI Vs Mahanand Sharma & Anr. (J.P. Marwah) Page 14 of 15 pleaded not guilty at that time and claimed trial.
19 The accused had moved an application u/s 229 Cr.P.C. for pleading guilty on 12/11/2018. His voluntary plea of guilty has been recorded separately today.
20 I accept the plea of guilty tendered by the accused.
21 Accordingly accused Jogender Pal Marwah (A7) is held guilty for the offences u/s 120B read with Section 420, 468, 471 IPC and Section 13 (2) r/w Section 13 (1) (d) of P.C. Act 1988 and for the substantive offences u/s 420/511 IPC, u/s 468 IPC and u/s 471 IPC.
Digitally signed by ASHUTOSH ASHUTOSH KUMAR Announced in the open Court KUMAR Date: 2018.11.20 (Ashutosh Kumar) 17:16:09 +0530 on 20th of November, 2018 Spl. Judge02(PC ACT), CBI Rohini Courts, Delhi CC No. 74/2016 CBI Vs Mahanand Sharma & Anr. (J.P. Marwah) Page 15 of 15