Supreme Court stays SIT probe initiated against Congress MLA Arif Masood

The Supreme Court on Friday stayed a SIT led investigation initiated against Congress MLA Arif Masood over allegation of placing a fabricated document for the purpose of receiving affiliation for his college namely, Indira Priyadarshani College, Bhopal.

A bench of Justices JK Maheshwari and Vijay Bishnoi has ordered status quo on a plea moved by the College against an order of the High Court dated August 18, 2025.

The case arose before the Madhya Pradesh High Court wherein the petitioner college had challenged the direction given by Barkatullah University, Bhopal, to de-affiliate the petitioner college. The solvency certificate submitted by the college at the time of seeking affiliation in 2005 was found to be forged. 

Notably, the document placed before the authorities in order to establish solvency, was a sale deed of a property where the purchaser was Aman Education Society through its Secretary, Arif Masood.

The High Court noted that upon verification of the said document, the same was found to be fabricated, way back in 2004 itself and the original sale deed disclosed that the purchaser was Mrs. Rubina Masood, the wife of the Secretary Arif Masood. The document was tampered with and offered as proof of solvency, bench of Justices Atul Sreedharan and Pradeep Mittal further noted.

A question arose before the High Court as to how the petitioner college had a free run for two decades till he ran out of luck in the year 2024 and how the petitioner survived without any intervention by the State for twenty years.

In its answer, the High Court noted, "Prima facie, it appears that the Secretary of the society was a blue eyed boy of the dispensation that existed before 2024. The party in power in the State has been the same for more than two decades. However, the captain of the ship changed in the year 2023, when the woes of the petitioner college commenced from 2024. The action taken by the State against the petitioner vide the impugned order directing the University to de-affiliate the petitioner college appears to be a pat on the wrist of the Secretary of the Education Society."

"Till date, there has never been any move by the State to register an FIR against Mr. Arif Masood, who is the Secretary of the Aman Education Society running the petitioner college or the Officers, who held responsible positions on that day and whose duty it was, once the fraud was uncovered, to proceed immediately against Mr. Arif Masood and instead condoned his crime and were gracious enough to permit him to place other documents for the purpose of establishing solvency", the High Court further noted in its order.

Accordingly, the high court directed Police Commissioner, Bhopal to register an FIR against Arif Masood and such other persons, who may appear to have been complicit from the side of the State in facilitating Masood in the alleged offence.

Noting that Masood maybe politically well connected, the high court had deemed it essential to constitute an SIT, which would oversee the investigation by the police in the FIR registered pursuant to the court's directions.

The Director General of Police, Kailash Makwana was thus asked to constitute an SIT headed by Sanjiv Shami, ADG Telecommunications P.H.Q., Bhopal and two such other Officers to be selected by Shami as per his confidence and trust, which would oversee the investigation of this case and file a report within 3 months.

Moreover, considering that actual sufferers were the students, the high court as an interim measure, has permitted the college to continue, and de-affiliation has been stayed for the time being. However, the petitioner college has been asked not take any fresh students for the next academic session without the permission of the High Court.

Case Title: INDIRA PRIYADARSHANI COLLEGE BHOPAL vs. THE STATE OF MADHYA PRADESH

Hearing Date: August 22, 2025

Bench: Justices Maheshwari and Bishnoi