The High Court of Delhi has put a stay on the execution of search warrant issued by a Magistrate and other orders passed by the trial court for conducting raids at the office of Advocate Mehmood Pracha by Delhi Police.
The Single-Judge Bench of Justice Jasmeet Singh observed that Delhi Police had searched the office premises of Pracha on December 24, 2020 and that there was no service of notice under Section 91 of Cr.P.C. It fixed January 13 as the next date of hearing.
The High Court stayed orders passed on March 2, 4 and 25 last year, by the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (CMM) in FIR No 212/2020 and the November 5 order passed this year by the ASJ-07, New Delhi District in Criminal Revision No. 159/2021.
The Bench also stayed the warrant issued against Pracha on March 4, 2021, till the next date of hearing.
The lawyer was accused of using forged documents in a case related to the riots that took place in the Northeast region of the national capital.
An FIR was registered against him in August, 2020. The Delhi Police then obtained a search warrant from a local court to search ‘incriminating’ documents and ‘metadata’ of outbox of the official email address of Pracha’s office.
Pracha contended in his petition that the Delhi Police was seeking certain documents from his computer and had in fact already seized them during execution of an earlier such warrant.
The Advocate said that while he was willing to supply the said documents in compliance with the Code of Criminal Procedure, but the police was insistent on seizing his entire computer, which contained ‘sensitive data’ of thousands of his clients.
Calling the act of Delhi Police seeking fresh warrant as ‘completely arbitrary’ and ‘against’ the basic concept of rule of law, Pracha alleged that the Police was acting in an ‘underhanded manner.’
He said the first warrant was obtained four months after the FIR was registered and the second warrant was sought after more than three months after the first one was executed, which meant there was absolutely no urgency for a second warrant.
The Lawyer added that the allegation of him possibly tampering with any evidence did not inspire confidence.
Calling the second raid conducted by the Special Cell at his office as completely ‘illegal’ and ‘unjustified,’ Pracha had approached the trial court against the same.
Advocates Jatin Bhatt, Sanawar, Aayushman Aggarwal, Dhruv Yadav and Harshit Gahlot moved Pracha’s application. Advocate R.H.A. Sikander appeared for the lawyer.
(Case title: Mehmood Pracha vs State)