Police on Tuesday arrested a 53-year-old man and his son from Ludhiana in Punjab for allegedly conspiring to upload fabricated bail orders on the Rajasthan High Court’s official website to prevent the father’s arrest in a narcotics case.
Preliminary verification revealed that the cases had not been listed for hearing on the dates mentioned in the purported orders and that no such judicial directions had been issued, police said. The high court subsequently cancelled his bail bond, forfeited the sureties and issued an arrest warrant, directing the police to take him into custody. Panesar was earlier arrested in connection with the alleged seizure of 8.061 kg of opium in Sri Ganganagar district. A case was registered against him at Rajiasar police station under sections 8/18, 25 and 29 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act. Panesar was granted interim bail but failed to surrender on June 9 after the stipulated period expired, according to police. The suspected manipulation came to light on November 3, prompting the high court administration to initiate an inquiry.
DCP (West) Kamal Shekhawat said the arrests were made by Kudi Bhagatsuni police on the directions of Jodhpur police commissioner Anshuman Bhomia. Police said further investigation would focus on identifying others involved in preparing and uploading the fabricated orders and establishing how the high court’s website was allegedly compromised.
“Manpreet returned from Canada to protect his father from arrest and allegedly participated in the conspiracy to prepare fake court orders.
Both accused are yet to be questioned in detail, and the full extent of the conspiracy will emerge during the investigation,” Shekhawat said.
