On the run, couple booked for no show on HC order

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, May 1

After remaining on the run for almost two years, a couple (proclaimed offenders), accused in a cheating and forgery case, has been booked for non-appearance in response to a proclamation on the order of the Punjab and Haryana High Court.

Iqbal Singh Sabharwal and his wife Harpreet Walia Sabharwal of Sunny Enclave in Kharar have been booked under Section 174-A of the IPC at the Balongi police station in Mohali.

The case assumes significance as the couple, after being booked in a case of cheating, forgery, criminal breach of trust and criminal conspiracy in Kharar on July 17, 2007, allegedly involving a Rs 24 crore land fraud, had been on the run, following which they were declared proclaimed offenders on July 3, 2014. Their pleas to quash the order of the Kharar court declaring them proclaimed offenders were dismissed up to the Supreme Court. Besides, their anticipatory bail plea had also been declined by the High Court and the Supreme Court.

Despite being on the run, the couple once again petitioned the High Court, seeking quashing of the order of the Kharar court declaring them proclaimed offenders.

Disposing of their plea on April 29, Justice Kuldip Singh directed the couple to surrender before the lower court or the police authorities within 24 hours, failing which the police shall apprehend them within 48 hours after that and produce them before the court concerned. He also ordered the police to register a case against the couple under Section 174-A of the IPC.

“It is apparent that though the present applicants (petitioners) are absconding from justice, technically under Section 82(4) of the CrPC, they could not be declared proclaimed offenders. However, notwithstanding the technicality of law, they can be treated as proclaimed persons under the provisions of Section 82 of the CrPC,” observed the HC Judge, while ordering that in place of proclaimed offenders, the couple shall be treated as proclaimed persons under the provisions of Section 82 of the CrPC.