The Delhi High Court on Wednesday discharged senior Income Tax (IT) department official Yogendra Mittal and set aside the corruption charges framed against him. It was alleged that Mittal demanded and accepted illegal gratification from Ullhas Prabhakar, who was running a scam under the name of Stock Guru India.
It was alleged that Mittal, at the instance of the petitioner, accused Ullhas Prabhakar, delivered Rs 5 crores on February 2, 2011, to an address in Lajpat Nagar and also paid a second installment of Rs 10 crores on February 8, 2011, at the same place. Additionally, it was alleged that Mittal demanded and accepted a bribe to settle the matter in favor of Ullhas Prabhakar, who allegedly committed cheating of hundreds of crores in seven states.
Justice Sudhir Kumar Jain stated, “In the present case, the material collected during the investigation by the CBI is not sufficient to frame the charge against the petitioner.” He further mentioned, “Accordingly, the present petition is allowed. The impugned order is not legally sustainable. The order dated 12.09.2019 whereby the petitioner was charged for the offences punishable under section 120B IPC read with sections 7 and 13 (1) (d) of PC Act and for the substantive offences under sections 7 and 13(1)(d) punishable under section 13 (2) of PC Act, 1988 is set aside.”
“The petitioner stands discharged for the offences for which he was discharged,” the high court said in the judgment.
A petition was filed on behalf of Yogendra Mittal seeking direction for setting aside the order dated September 12, 2019, passed by the court of Special Judge CBI Rouse Avenue Court, Delhi, whereby the trial court passed an order on charge and also framed charges against the petitioner. The accused Ullhas Prabhakar and his wife Priyanka Dev Jain were arrested on November 10, 2011. The accused, during the course of custodial interrogation on November 18, 2012, disclosed that on January 18 and 19 of 2011 raids were conducted at his office at Moto Nagar and residence, and a large cash amount was misappropriated by Income Tax (IT) officers, and subsequently demands were raised, and there was acceptance of illegal gratification by Yogender Mittal, then ADIT, IT Department, New Delhi.