New Delhi, April 28 (). The Supreme Court on Friday quashed the cheating and forgery proceedings against the Shiromani Akali Dal’s (SAD) late patriarch Parkash Singh Badal and his son Sukhbir Singh Badal in the ongoing dispute over its dual constitution.
Parkash Singh Badal, former five-time Chief Minister of Punjab, died on Tuesday at a private hospital in Mohali. He was 95 years old.
The Supreme Court had on April 11 reserved judgment on a petition by the Badals and Daljit Singh Cheema challenging the pending proceedings in an alleged forgery and cheating case registered against them in a Hoshiarpur court in Punjab.
Pronouncing the judgement, Justice M.R. A bench headed by Shah said, no material has been made out, criminal proceedings have been quashed, we quashed the summoning order.
The petition was filed by Badal and Cheema in relation to a complaint filed by Balwant Singh Kheda, a resident of Hoshiarpur.
In 2009, Kheda filed a criminal complaint before the Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate.
The complaint accused the SAD of submitting two separate constitutions, i.e. one to the Gurudwara Election Commission (GEC) and the other to the Election Commission of India (ECI), to seek recognition as a political party.
Senior advocate K.V. Viswanathan and R.S. Cheema appeared for the Badals and advocate Sandeep Kapoor appeared for Cheema.
The petitions were filed by Karanjawala & Co. and the brief was led by Nandini Gore and Sandeep Kapoor and others. Advocate Prashant Bhushan appeared on behalf of Balwant Singh Kheda.
The apex court said that prima facie a case of forgery, cheating etc. is not made out.
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