Chandigarh, Sep 19 (NationPress) The Punjab and Haryana High Court has declined to dismiss criminal proceedings against former Haryana minister and MLA Subhash Choudhary, along with his wife, brother, political advisor, and several others in a loan fraud case linked to the Yamunanagar Central Cooperative Bank.

Chaudhary served as a lawmaker for Jagadhari from 1996 to 2000 and held the position of Minister of State for Environment. He was re-elected from Jagadhari during the Congress regime from 2005 to 2009, where he developed a close association with then Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda.

A bench led by Justice Tribhuvan Dahiya dismissed the petition from one of the accused, Deep Chand, under Section 482 Cr.P.C., asserting that there was ample evidence gathered during the investigation indicating the alleged conspiracy's prima facie involvement.

The FIR, dated October 15, 2018, from Buria in Yamunanagar district, included charges under Sections 406, 409, 420, 467, 468, 471, 120-B of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). It claimed that the former minister, his family, and close associates secured agricultural loans exceeding Rs 71 lakh using forged documents and manipulated revenue records.

Representing the Haryana government, Additional Advocate General Amit Sahni opposed the plea, stating that the investigation was concluded, a charge sheet was filed on March 16, 2021, and the trial court had framed charges on June 8, 2021. He emphasized that the forgery of revenue records to obtain loans is a grave issue, arguing that dismissing FIRs and charge sheets in such cases should be avoided.

He contended that allowing the quashing at this juncture would encourage fraudsters and undermine the justice system's integrity.

The prosecution asserted that Choudhary, a two-time MLA, his wife Kusum Rani, brother Ashok Kumar—then Chairman of Yamunanagar Central Cooperative Bank—and political advisor Deep Chand colluded to misrepresent barren land as fertile to obtain substantial loans. Allegedly, they created forged ‘jamabandi’ and ‘girdawari’ records with the local patwari's collusion.

The loans disbursed were never repaid, leading to significant losses for the cooperative bank.

The court agreed with the state's arguments, noting that the accused even fabricated a false story claiming their land was damaged by floods to evade repayment. It found the fraudulent conspiracy well-documented and the offenses clearly established. Thus, the petition to quash the FIR and subsequent proceedings was rejected, allowing the trial against the accused to proceed.