A petition was filed before the Punjab and Haryana High Court under Section 482 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (BNSS) seeking anticipatory bail regarding an FIR dated 27-05-2026 registered under Sections 420, 120-B, and 506 of IPC.
During the course of hearing, A Single Judge Bench of Justice N.S. Shekhawat had noticed that every attempt had been made by the police in the present case to shield the culprits, who had cheated a large number of innocent investors of crores of rupees. It was stated that these days, it is not uncommon that real estate developers collect crores of rupees from innocent people by showing them a rosy picture of offering accommodation on time to them, but later on, neither the accommodation is provided nor the money invested by them is returned.
Apart from that, the Court said that such real estate developers are also well aware of the fact that completion of the project is not possible as per their representations before the investors, and that the crores of rupees invested by innocent buyers would be siphoned off. The Court stated that the developers’ conduct showed a pattern of fraudulent transactions. It was said that even the Supreme Court had repeatedly expressed displeasure over the manner in which investigations are conducted for the benefit of the builders/developers, who are involved in large-scale economic frauds affecting numerous investors.
The Court stated that after perusing the IO’s file, it had directed the Inspector General of Police to examine the investigation himself and to take strict action against the accused in the present case. However, the Court found that the IO was trying to help the accused and that even after passing various orders, the investigation was not conducted properly. The Court was informed during the present hearing that the investigation was being conducted by a SIT and that a couple of people had been arrested.
To the Court’s surprise, the bail petition of the Director of one of M/s DHL Infratech Private
Limited had been allowed and the bail petition by the employee of another building company had been ordered to be dismissed by the courts at Rohtak. The Court was also informed that the co-accused persons from DHL Infratech had been granted the concession of interim anticipatory bail by the same presiding officer who had dismissed the bail petition filed by the present petitioner. It was also disclosed before the Court that these four accused persons were involved in other scams as well.
The Court highlighted that so far, it had not even granted the concession of interim anticipatory bail to the present petitioner, who was a partner of one of the building companies, and had only stayed his arrest on the assurance that he would return the whole amount invested by the victims who had not been offered possession along with 6% interest per annum.
After perusing the status report filed by the State of Haryana, the Court found it apparent that the police officials were hesitating in taking any action against real estate promoters/developers as even after four months of the FIR being registered, no action had been taken against them. Further, the Court restrained the judicial officers posted at Sessions Division, Rohtak, from entertaining any bail application in the present case.
Lastly, the Court stated that it expected the State of Haryana to appoint a senior IPS officer to investigate such a large-scale scam and to submit a status report of investigation either on or before the next date. The matter has now been adjourned to 28-10-2026.
