Toolkit Case: SC dismisses plea of Chhattisgarh govt against Raman Singh, Sambit Patra

New Delhi [India], September 22 : The Supreme Court on Wednesday declined to consider a plea of the Chhattisgarh government against the High Court order granting a stay of investigation in an FIR registered against senior BJP leader and former chief minister Raman Singh and the party's spokesperson Sambit Patra for their tweets in the alleged fake toolkit case.
A Bench headed by Chief Justice of India NV Ramana refused to interfere in the High Court's order.
"We are not inclined to interfere, let the High Court decide the matter expeditiously. Appeals are dismissed. Let not the observations (of this court) come in the way of deciding the case on merits (by the High Court)," the Bench said.
On June 11, the Chhattisgarh High Court had passed two separate orders and granted interim reliefs in the same FIR lodged against Singh and Patra.
The High Court had noted that averments in the FIR reflected that by the tweets, Congressmen are aggravated which clearly indicates that no public peace or tranquillity is being adversely affected and it is purely a political rivalry between two political parties.
It had observed that FIR has been registered with political motives.
The State government then filed two separate appeals in the top court -- one against the relief granted to Raman Singh and the other against the relief granted to Patra.
The High Court had erroneously granted an interim relief sought by Singh and Patra by staying the investigation arising out of the FIR, said the appeal of State government in the apex court, while seeking setting aside of the orders.
The High Court's order of staying the entire investigation on a nascent stage especially when the ex-facie offence of forgery is made out and is writ large, the Chhattisgarh government said.
It added that the state has been carrying out an investigation in accordance with law and considering the pandemic, and has been fair in its conduct and the accused was given an opportunity to be present at his own house as per the notice sent to him and when the second notice was sent to him, he was given an option to be present through his lawyer.
On May 19, an FIR was lodged at Civil Lines Police Station in the state based on the complaint of Akash Sharma, the president of National Students' Union of India's (NSUI) Chhattisgarh unit, alleging that Singh, Patra and others had circulated fabricated content on social media platforms using a fake letterhead of the Congress by projecting it as a toolkit developed by the party.