The Chhattisgarh High Court on Wednesday quashed an FIR against BJP leader and former Chief Minister Raman Singh and the party's spokesperson Sambit Patra in connection with the circulation of an alleged 'toolkit' using a bogus letterhead of the Congress.
A division bench of Chief Justice Ramesh Sinha and Justice NK Chandravanshi quashed the FIR, observing no offence was made out against the two BJP politicians, the petitioners' lawyer, Vivek Sharma, said.
On May 19, 2021, an FIR was lodged in Raipur on a complaint of Akash Sharma, then president of the National Students' Union of India's Chhattisgarh unit, the student wing of the Congress.
The complainant had alleged Mr Singh, Mr Patra, and other BJP leaders circulated fabricated content on social media using a fake letterhead of the Congress by projecting it as a toolkit developed by the party.
Raman Singh and Sambit Patra filed petitions in the High Court seeking to quash the FIR, Mr Sharma said.
After the initial hearing on their petitions, the High Court stayed an investigation into the charges levelled in the FIR, the lawyer said.
On September 12, the High Court reserved its order after hearing both sides and delivered the verdict on Wednesday, he added.
Senior lawyer Mahesh Jethmalani also appeared for the petitioners.
Hailing the order, Raman Singh said the High Court's decision is a lesson for the Congress which misuses power to suppress voices of its political opponents.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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