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Rita Singh & Anr. vs. Central Bureau of Investigation

Criminal Miscellaneous Case · 2026:DHC:8242Decided 24 Sept 2026New Delhi Bench
CRL.M.C. 589/2023CNR: DLHC010023702023
Justice Madhu Jain

Background

The petitioners, a Managing Director and Director of a steel company (MISL), challenged the framing of criminal conspiracy, cheating, and forgery charges against them arising from an alleged scheme to obtain roughly Rs. 1.9 crore in equipment lease finance from Ashok Leyland Finance by using fabricated invoices purportedly from Kesoram Refractories, whose representative denied ever issuing such documents or dealing in the equipment concerned. The petitioners had earlier been discharged by the trial magistrate, but a Sessions-level revision reinstated the charges.

Decision Breakdown

The High Court held the case was not merely one of vicarious liability by virtue of the petitioners' directorship: a bank officer's statement specifically placed them in discussions about the supplier's identity shortly before the finance was disbursed, which was sufficient at the charge stage to sustain conspiracy and cheating charges (Sections 120B and 420 IPC). However, since no material showed either petitioner personally made, altered, or used the forged documents, the Court quashed the more serious forgery-related charges (Sections 467, 468, and 471 IPC) against them specifically, while allowing the conspiracy and cheating trial to proceed. A prior acquittal in a related but factually distinct CBI case did not bar this prosecution, and an alleged financial settlement (which could not even be verified due to lost bank records) did not warrant quashing given the seriousness of the fraud allegations.

Lesson Learnt

Being a company director does not automatically make someone liable for every offence connected to a fraudulent transaction: courts will separate charges requiring a personal, active act (like forgery) from those based on participation in a broader conspiracy, and can strike down only the former while allowing the latter to proceed to trial.

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