Court orders FIR against Haryana minister, Delhi mayor

A district court here Monday ordered a fresh FIR against Haryana minister Sukhbir Kataria and south Delhi mayor Sarita Chaudhary in a bogus votes case.

Six FIRs have already been lodged against youth and sports minister Kataria.

The court of Judicial Magistrate (1st class) Mahender Singh ordered an FIR against minister and Gurgaon MLA Sukhbir Kataria and 55 others.

"South Delhi's BJP mayor Sarita Chaudhary has her name in the Gurgaon voter list claiming herself to be a resident of house number 1407, 8 Biswa in Gurgaon," RTI activist and complainant Om Prakash Kataria told IANS.

"A total of 81 votes were made on the said address ID but information collected through RTI revealed house number 1407 is a vacant plot and no one is living there," he said.

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 RTI activists, 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 sought the registration of a criminal case against Sukhbir.

The complainant said it was strange the police remained inactive despite several FIRs lodged against the minister.

A total of 12 cases of bogus votes are pending in different courts in which the minister is accused of being the mastermind.