Punjab & Haryana High Court: Advocate cannot be implicated in absence of conspiracy—FIR against lawyer quashed

Case Name: A.P. Jagga v. State of Punjab and Another
Date of Judgment: January 8, 2020
Citation: CRM-M-29439-2014

Bench: Hon’ble Mr. Justice Arvind Singh Sangwan

Held: The High Court held that no material existed to establish conspiracy or mens rea on the part of the petitioner-Advocate in the alleged fraudulent loan transaction. The Legal Scrutiny Report (LSR) attributed to him was found fabricated as per FSL report, which showed the signatures did not tally. The Court reiterated, following CBI v. K. Narayana Rao, that an Advocate cannot be saddled with criminal liability merely for a legal opinion unless there is tangible evidence of active participation in a conspiracy to defraud the bank.

Summary: FIR No. 7 dated 05.01.2014 was lodged by Vijaya Bank, Kharar Branch, against borrower Neelam Sahni and guarantor Sanjeev Kumar, alleging they mortgaged land already sold. The petitioner-Advocate was implicated on the basis of an allegedly fake LSR. He denied authoring it, filed an affidavit, and relied on FSL report confirming the signatures were not his. The Court noted that the FIR contained allegations only against borrower and guarantor, not against the petitioner. The DDA (Legal) had advised deeper investigation before proceeding against him, but no such inquiry was conducted. The LSR contents were also based on original documents, not suggestive of conspiracy. Thus, prosecution was found unsustainable.

Decision: Petition allowed. FIR No. 7 dated 05.01.2014 under Sections 405, 420, 120-B IPC, Police Station City Kharar, District SAS Nagar (Mohali), and all consequential proceedings quashed qua the petitioner.