IPS officer files defamation suit against Addl Sessions Judge

Ex-Police Commissioner of Gurugram and senior IPS officer Krishan Kumar Rao has filed a defamation suit against an Additional District and Sessions Judge and sought Rs 1 crore in damages and compensation for the adverse remarks made against him in a judicial order passed in February 2022.

The suit was filed in the court of Additional Civil Judge (Senior Division) Vikramjit Singh on Monday and the hearing was held on the same day. The court, as per the order sheet, decided the next hearing of the case on November 21.

“The suit, seeking compensation and damages from and against the defendant and restraining the defendants from maligning and defaming the plaintiff in any manner, has been received by way of assignment. It should be checked and registered. Now, the matter stands adjourned for November 21, 2024, for consideration on the point of maintainability of the suit,” the order read.

The defamation suit was filed against the order, in which the court of Additional Sessions Judge Amit Sahrawat had rejected another IPS officer Dheeraj Setia’s bail application in February 2022 in connection with the sensational multi-crore heist, saying there was more to the story than met the eye.

In the order, the court had said that based on the confession made by Dr Sachinder Jain Naval, who was the chief suspect in the case, it seemed suspicious that Setia, Gurugram’s former Deputy Commissioner of Police, who was accused of accepting a bribe to derail investigations, could do so right in the presence of Gurugram’s ex-Police Commissioner Krishan Kumar Rao, especially given that gangsters would visit him at the Gurugram Commissionerate. The court had also said investigators could not determine if the entire exercise was done with the former Police Commissioner’s consent without the suspect’s custody.

In the defamation suit, the senior officer argued that the judge’s remarks were based on conjecture and had no judicial basis. He stated that the comments regarding his supposed lack of knowledge about the events were personal in nature and unrelated to the adjudication of the bail application. The petition also claimed that the comments were not protected under the Judges Protection Act since they did not pertain to the judge’s official duties.

The incident dates back to August 4, 2021, when gangster Lagarpuriya’s men broke into a flat, which was used by a private company as the office space, and decamped with crores of rupees in cash. According to the Special Task Force, Rs 30-40 crore was taken by them.

The key accused in the theft case, Sachinder Jain Naval, had claimed he had bribed Setia with gold and cash to hush up the case. However, Naval claimed that Setia returned a large part of the money and gold, but kept a few dollars, saying the case was not in his hands.