A Delhi court has set aside the three-year jail term of a man accused of providing fake degrees and certificates for money, saying the investigating officer did not conduct a fair probe. Special judge S K Sharma acquitted Delhi resident Vijay Bhargava, who was sentenced by a magisterial court for the offences of forgery and criminal conspiracy under the IPC, while observing that there were contradictions in the prosecution story regarding the recovery of fake degrees.
“It is clear that the prosecution witnesses have deposed contradictory to each other regarding the recovery of fake marksheet and certificate,” the judge said. “Investigating Officer has not conducted investigation properly and fairly... So far as the recovery of articles from the house of Vijay Bhargava is concerned, it becomes doubtful as no public witness was joined in the said recovery,” the court said while allowing Bhargava’s appeal against his conviction and sentence.
Bhargava was sent to jail in August last year for allegedly providing fake degrees and certificates to one Bhupesh Kumar in 1997 on a payment of certain money. The court, while freeing him, also observed that the investigating officer could not explain why there were no independent witnesses in the case.