Man accused of writing forged PMO letter to Secretary of Dept of Justice gets bail

By Dhiraj Beniwal
New Delhi [India], July 10 (ANI): A Rouse Avenue court has granted bail to a man accused of writing a forged PMO letter to the Secretary, Department of Justice, Government of India. This letter was written under the signature of a Special Officer to the PM. However, no such post exists in PMO, the investigation revealed.
It was alleged that through this letter, the representation of the accused was forwarded to the Chief Justice of India (CJI) to enable him to constitute an inquiry against three Supreme Court judges.
Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) Deepak Kumar granted bail to S V Srinivasa Rao on July 8. The accused was summoned by the court after cognisance of the charge CBI filed.
On April 24, 2025, the court took cognisance of the charge sheet filed against. He was summoned to appear before the court. He was not arrested during the investigation.
While granting the bail, the court noted that the accused was not arrested during the course of investigation and the instant charge sheet has been filed without arresting him.
The court noted, "Moreover, he appeared before this court on summons being issued to him in the first instance. In view of the same, no purpose is going to be served by remanding him to judicial custody at this stage."
"Consequently, instant application stands allowed and accused/applicant is admitted to bail on his furnishing of personal bond in the sum of Rs. 50,000 with one surety of the like amount," the CJM ordered on July 8.
Advocate Amrita Sharma, counsel for the accused, submitted that he has duly cooperated during the investigation and that he was not arrested. The charge sheet has been filed without arresting him and thus he be admitted to bail.
The CBI had registered a case under Sections 466, 471, 474 IPC, on the basis of a written complaint of 29.05.2019 made by P.K. Issar, Assistant Director, PMO.
It is alleged in the complaint that a forged letter under the signature of Samir Kumar, Special Officer to the PM, was issued when no such designation existed in the PMO.
It is further alleged that through the forged letter, the representation of August 11, 2016 of the accused Rao was allegedly forwarded to the Secretary, Department of Justice, Government of India for sending the same to the CJI, so as to enable him to constitute a committee and to inquire into the allegations against the three judges of the Supreme Court of India on priority and render justice to the complainant.
It is also averred that whereas the genuine letter of PMO written on August 18, 2016, was issued under the signatures of Samir Kumar, Section Officer, PMO, had forwarded the letter/gist of oral representation to the Secretary, Department of Justice, Government of India for action as appropriate.
During the investigation, it has transpired that a petition of August 11, 2016, was sent by the complainant to the PMO for investigation regarding the high corruption of three judges of the Supreme Court of India and 22 judges of the Karnataka High Court.
Investigation further revealed that the same was forwarded to the Secretary, Department of Justice, Government of India under the signatures of Samir Kumar, Section Officer, for action as appropriate.
It is also stated that the Investigation also revealed that on receipt of online petition/ representation of August 11, 2016 of the accused by the then Under Secretary, Department of Justice, Government of India, it was further forwarded to the Supreme Court of India on 28.09.2016 with the request that the representation may be placed before the CJI, for such action as deemed appropriate.
Investigation further revealed that the accused, through a letter written on January 8, 2019, had requested the PMO to provide information under the RTI Act, 2005, in respect of the letter of August 18, 2016, and he had enclosed a copy of the forged letter.
While taking cognisance of the CBI charge sheet on April 24, the court said, "There are clear and categorical findings in the final report against the accused regarding the commission of offences for which he has been charge-sheeted, the offences punishable under Sections 182/471/474 of IPC.
"Accordingly, in view of the foregoing discussion and material available on record, I take cognisance," the court said in the cognisance order of April 24, 2025. (ANI)