The Delhi High Court has stayed the summoning of the petitioner as an accused in a CBI case, holding that the issue requires detailed consideration, particularly since the summoning order was passed after substantial progress in the trial.
Justice Girish Kathpalia was hearing a petition challenging a trial court order dated 16 December 2025, by which he was summoned as an accused after filing of a second supplementary chargesheet.
Senior counsel for the petitioner contended that the trial court had summoned the petitioner at a stage when 95 prosecution witnesses had already been examined, and even the Central Bureau of Investigation had not pressed for his summoning, as reflected from the impugned order itself. It was argued that the summoning was based solely on statements recorded under Section 161 CrPC, which do not constitute substantive evidence.
Reliance was placed on the Supreme Court’s decision in Chandra Shekhar v. State of Uttar Pradesh, 2025 SCC OnLine SC 405, to submit that a person cannot be summoned merely on the basis of such statements.
Accepting notice, the CBI sought 4 weeks to file a status report, which the Court allowed. Observing that the matter warranted detailed deliberation, the High Court stayed the operation of the summoning order till the next date of hearing.
The matter has been listed for further consideration on 15 April 2026
Appearances
Petitioner- Mr. Nalin Kohli, Sr. Advocate with Mr. Arjun Syal, Mr. Indhirajith Prabhakaran M, Mr. Aditya Rathee, Mr. Ayushman Arura and Mr. Naman Verma, Advocates.
Respondent- Mr. Vikrant Pachnanda, SPP with Ms. Bhavya Sheetal, Advocate.
