A man, who was accused of using a forged letter in the name of then Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha to get a railway ticket confirmed in 2000, has been acquitted by a Delhi court on the ground that the politician was not made a witness to prove the case.
Metropolitan Magistrate Rakesh Kumar Rampuri absolved Delhi resident Vimal Ghosh of the offences including cheating and forgery under the IPC, saying that the prosecution could not prove that the letter was sent by him.
"The fax message has not been examined forensically and no scientific report in respect of genuineness of the same had been filed by the Investigating Officer (IO).
"It is also noticeable that Yashwant Sinha, the purported sender of the alleged fake fax message in question had not been even cited as witness for the reason best known to the IO," the judge said.
The court acquitted Ghosh of the offences under sections 468 (forgery for the purpose of cheating), 471 (using as genuine a forged document) and 420 (cheating) of the IPC.
"The court is of considered opinion that the prosecution has failed to prove the basic ingredients of the offence i.E sending of alleged forged and fictitious message dishonestly or with intention to deceive or cheat the Railways by getting confirmed berth by using the same as genuine," it said.
According to the prosecution, Ghosh had booked his brother's train ticket for May 24, 2000 to travel from Delhi to Jasidih in Jharkhand.
Since the ticket was not confirmed, he allegedly forged a request letter, bearing former Sinha's signatures and faxed it to the then Minister of State (MoS) for Railways Digvijay Singh for reservation of one berth in favour of his brother under emergency quota, it said.
When the chief ticket inspector contacted Sinha's personal secretary to cross check it, the letter was found to be forged, it alleged.
To nab Ghosh, the ticket under emergency quota was provided to him and he along with his brother was caught by the chief ticket inspector and the OSD of Railway board.
Ghosh's brother was not made an accused in the case.
While denying the allegations in the court, Ghosh had claimed that he had approached an ex-MLA of Bihar to help in confirmation of ticket and he had never sent any alleged forged fax.
