NEW DELHI: The Rouse Avenue court has awarded a former MLA, Ranbir Singh Kharb and his wife, Anita Kharb, seven years of jail punishment in a cheating and criminal conspiracy case. The court has also imposed a fine of Rs. 44 lakh on the couple.
This case pertains to cheating with investors from 1998 to 2004. During this period, Kharb was sitting MLA.
A case was registered by the Economic Offense Wing of Delhi Police in 2006.
As per the prosecution, the convicts, fraudulently and dishonestly induced the complainant, Pravin Kumar, to invest money in the company and in a consequence thereof, he invested a sum of Rs.23 lakhs, without getting any return or refund. Ranbir Singh Dahiya was defrauded with Rs. 1.34 Crores.
Additional Chief Metropolitan (ACMM) Priyanka Rajpoot sentenced the convicts Ranbir Singh Kharb and Anita Kharb for a period of seven years imprisonment on February 24.
The court said that convict Ranbir Kharb is sentenced to rigorous imprisonment of seven years and fine of Rs. 22 Lakh for the offence punishable under section 420 of IPC read with section 120-B of IPC.
Similarly, convict Anita Kharb is sentenced to rigorous imprisonment of seven years and a fine of Rs. 22 Lakh for the offence punishable under section 420 of IPC read with section 120-B of IPC.
The third convict, Satprakash, has been released on probation by the court.
He is directed to furnish bonds in terms of Section 4 of said Act in the sum of Rs. 50,000/- with one surety in the like amount.
Ranbir and Anita Kharb were on bail. They are directed to surrender before the court on Monday.
Counsel for convicts appearing for them requested the Court to suspend the sentence and grant bail to them till the filing of appeal against the judgment as well as against the order on sentence.
The Court noted that the provision of suspension of sentence under section 389(3) of Cr.P.C. will not apply as the Court has sentenced the convicts Ranbir Singh Kharb and Anita Kharb to imprisonment for a term of seven years.
Accordingly, the convicts Ranbir Singh Kharb and Anita Kharb are directed to surrender before the Court on the next date of hearing, the court directed on Saturday.
It was alleged that the accused persons, namely Ranbir Singh Kharb, Anita Kharb and Satprakash, had committed offences of cheating, criminal breach of trust, and criminal conspiracy and had defrauded various innocent investors, who largely are their kith and kin of the accused persons, in the name of ‘investments’ in the company called M/s Jyoti Fair Finance Company.
It was also alleged that the accused persons,, during the period of 1998 to 2004 hatched a criminal conspiracy to cheat the general public, by way of a scheme floated through a finance company called M/s Jyoti Fair Finance Company.
As per the prosecution, the accused persons induced the general public to invest money in the company by alluring them with high interest rates and monetary gains, however, the accused persons never had the intention to return the money. Whatever payments, if at all made, were made to lure/induce innocent investors to make further investments.
The accused Anita Kharb was the director of the company. She gave receipts in the name of the company and often induced the general public and her acquaintances to invest money in the company.
As per the prosecution, Convict Satprakash too, like accused Anita Kharb, gave receipts in the name of the company and often induced the general public and his acquaintances to invest money in the company.
Accused Ranbir Singh Kharb is an alleged kingpin of the entire matter, even though he did not hold any position in the company However, as per the prosecution, he latently used to run the said company, without wearing any hat of director, employee, etc. Almost every victim has alleged inducement at the hands of Kharb, the prosecution had alleged. (ANI)