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Court ordered framing of charges against one Rajendra Prasad Sharma under Sections 420 and 468 of the Indian Penal Code.
A Delhi Court recently ordered the framing of charges against a person namely, Rajendra Prasad Sharma for allegedly "selling shares" attached by the Income Tax Department in the Harshad Mehta’s scam case of the 1990s.
Noting that the “accused signed the sale form without any authority”, Metropolitan Magistrate (MM) Yashdeep Chahal of the Patiala House Court directed to frame charges against Sharma under Sections 420 and 468 of the Indian Penal Code.
The court opined that at the present stage the consideration before it was whether the material in the precharge evidence, if unrebutted, would establish the guilt of the accused or not.
“The precharge evidence reveals that the accused had actually signed on the sale orders despite having no authority to do so. It is nowhere declined that the accused did not accept the payment”, the court noted.
The complaint in the present matter was filed by M/s. Share Shoppe against Rajendra Prasad Sharma for illegally selling pre-attached shares by signing the documents without any authority. It was alleged that Sharma dishonestly and fraudulently signed the spot sale orders without having any authority in that regard.
It was further alleged that Sharma filled two spot sale orders on July 5, 1995, and September 8, 1995, for the sale of certain shares of a Company, representing himself as the owner of the shares. It was also alleged that in lieu of the sale orders, the complainant issued two cheques to the accused, which he duly en-cashed.
Furthermore, it was alleged that the Registrar of the said company declined to transfer the said shares on the ground that the seller's signatures on the spot sale order forms didn’t match with the specimen signatures on the record of the company.
The judge said, “Upon a question by the Court, the accused submitted that the signatures on the alleged forms belong to him, although he reiterated that he signed at the instance of his parents.”
“Be that as it may, the unrebutted pre-charge evidence is not groundless and if duly proved in the trial, may establish the guilt of the accused”, the court observed.
Noting that Sharma himself signed the said forms, whereas the names of the holders of shares belonged to his parents, the court ordered, “Let charges be framed against the accused under Sections 420 & 468 of IPC. Put up for framing of charges on 06.05.2023.”
Case Title: M/s. Share Shoppe Vs. Rajendra Prasad Sharma
Statue: The Indian Penal Code
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