The Allahabad High Court has ordered an investigation by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) against a woman and her lawyer for allegedly trying to extract money from several individuals by filing false rape and other criminal cases against them.
The Bench of Justice Brij Raj Singh and Justice Vivek Chaudhary directed the national agency to submit its report by April 10.
The High Court passed the order on a petition filed by one of the persons accused of such offences, seeking protection of arrest.
The incident came to light after the petitioners moved the High Court seeking to quash a first information report (FIR) registered on January 30, 2025, under various Sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and Section 66D of the Information Technology Act.
The petitioners further sought protection from arrest, coercive action or any inquiry against them.
The Counsel representing the petitioners argued that informant Pooja Rawat has been following a pattern of filing false complaints. She had lodged 11 FIRs against multiple individuals, with the current one being her 12th. He further said that all the complaints were filed through the same lawyer, Advocate Parmanand Gupta.
The Counsel appearing for the State of Uttar Pradesh contended that similar complaint cases have been filed under different offences. Gupta had filed numerous criminal cases and FIRs against various individuals. The current FIR was a continuation of that pattern, he added.
The High Court recorded in its order that the informant and her Counsel were in collusion with each other. They registered false FIRs against a large number of people for serious offences, only to extract money from them. The present FIR was also one such application lodged to create pressure.
The High Court allowed the plea and granted protection from arrest to the petitioners