Gurgaon : A district court here ordered a fresh first information report (FIR) against Haryana youth and sports minister Sukhbir Kataria in a bogus votes case.
Three FIRs have already been lodged against the minister at the City police station.
The court of Judicial Magistrate (1st class) Seema Tuesday ordered an FIR against minister and Gurgaon MLA Sukhbir and 13 others in connection with a bogus votes case.
The court ordered the City police station chief to register the case under sections of cheating, preparing and using fake documents and criminal conspiracy (sections 420, 467, 468, 471 and 120-B of the Indian Penal Code).
Hearing a petition filed by Om Prakash Kataria, Aam Aadmi Party’s Haryana executive council member and chief of Gurgaon-based Matdata Jagrookta Manch, the court passed the order under section 156 (3) of the Criminal Procedure Code.
Alleging that forged documents were used to get voter cards made at the behest of the minister, the petitioner requested for registration of a criminal case against Sukhbir.
Accepting the complainant’s request for the FIR, the court, in its order, said thorough and in-depth investigation would be required into the facts and the circumstances mentioned in the complaint as there are allegations of conspiracy as well.
Complainant Om Prakash said the minister won by 2,138 votes in 2009 as an Independent candidate. The Gurgaon administration, based on his complaint, had since cancelled 32,000 bogus votes.
The court asked the police to submit status report of investigation after the FIR at the next hearing April 7.
A total of 10 cases of bogus votes were pending in different courts in which the minister was accused of being the mastermind.
The complainant said it was strange that the police remained inactive despite several FIRs lodged against the minister.
The first FIR was filed Jan 5, 2013 after a court order.