Pratibha Thakur vs Govt Of Nct Delhi Through Sho Ps Vijay Vihar

$~2 & 3
* IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI
% Date of Decision: 13.03.2026


+ BAIL APPLN. 3115/2024
PRATIBHA THAKUR .....Petitioner
Through: Mr. Gaurav Arora, Advocate.

versus

GOVT OF NCT DELHI THROUGH SHO PS VIJAY VIHAR
.....Respondent
Through: Mr. Sanjeev Sabharwal, APP for State
IO/SI Arun Kumar.
+ BAIL APPLN. 3508/2024
NITIN KAUSHIK .....Petitioner
Through: Mr. Rana Sandeep and Mr. Vivek
Pahan, Advocates.

versus

GOVT OF NCT OF DELHI .....Respondent
Through: Mr. Sanjeev Sabharwal, APP for State
IO/SI Arun Kumar.



CORAM: JUSTICE GIRISH KATHPALIA



J U D G M E N T (ORAL)

1. The accused/applicants seek anticipatory bail in case FIR No.
349/2021 of Police Station Vijay Vihar for offence under Section
420/463/464/465/468 IPC.

BAIL APPLNS 3115/2024 & 3508/2024 Page 1 of 8 pages
Digitally signed by GIRISH KATHPALIA
DN: c=IN, o=HIGH COURT OF DELHI,
2.5.4.20=8401dd889b27a77b2f65ffffe4afec4556
9af3962c6fb4835d435f97626cacca, ou=HIGH
COURT OF DELHI,CID - 7047638,
postalCode=110003, st=Delhi,
serialNumber=d3e86796451ec45c07b5d155709
96b40f80cbd2eee60402c487965ff801e26fa,
cn=GIRISH KATHPALIA
Date: 2026.03.13 17:58:09 -07'00'
Digitally Signed
By:DIKSHA RAWAT
Signing Date:13.03.2026
17:59:32
GIRISH
KATHPALIA
Signature Not Verified

2. These anticipatory bail applications came up for the first hearing on
30.08.2024 and 27.09.2024 before the predecessor bench and thereafter
continued getting adjourned before different benches. Initially, the
predecessor bench granted protection to the accused/applicants from arrest
but subsequently, on being informed that the accused/applicants were in jail
in connection with another case, the protection was revoked. Thereafter,
vide order dated 15.05.2025, the predecessor bench restored the protection
from arrest, which protection continued on date to date basis before different
predecessor benches. Thereafter, along with 179 such old pending bail
applications, these applications also were transferred to this bench and today
is the first hearing before me.

3. The interim protection repeatedly granted to the accused/applicants
was subject to their joining the investigation. But at the outset, learned APP
on instructions of IO/SI Arun Kumar submits that in response to every
question, the accused/applicants express that they do not remember anything
and baldly deny everything.

4. I have heard both learned counsel for accused/applicants and learned
APP for State as well as the victims of this fraud, who have appeared
personally.

5. Broadly speaking, allegation against the accused/applicants is as
follows. The accused Pratibha Thakur and the accused Nitin Kaushik
collected almost Rs. 12,00,000/- from gullible individuals, assuring to get

BAIL APPLNS 3115/2024 & 3508/2024 Page 2 of 8 pages
Digitally signed by GIRISH KATHPALIA
DN: c=IN, o=HIGH COURT OF DELHI,
2.5.4.20=8401dd889b27a77b2f65ffffe4afec45
569af3962c6fb4835d435f97626cacca,
ou=HIGH COURT OF DELHI,CID - 7047638,
postalCode=110003, st=Delhi,
serialNumber=d3e86796451ec45c07b5d1557
0996b40f80cbd2eee60402c487965ff801e26fa
, cn=GIRISH KATHPALIA
Digitally Signed
Date: 2026.03.13 17:57:57 -07'00'
By:DIKSHA RAWAT
Signing Date:13.03.2026
17:59:32
GIRISH
KATHPALIA
Signature Not Verified

them a job in the railways department.

5.1 The FIR was registered on the statement of one such defrauded person
Govind, who was introduced to the accused Pratibha Thakur and the accused
Nitin Kaushik and they assured to get him recruited in railway department
subject to being paid money. The accused Pratibha Thakur called Govind to
her residence and showed him certain appointment letters and joining letters.

5.2 On being induced by the accused Pratibha Thakur, three victims
agreed to pay Rs.12,00,000/- to her, which had to be paid stage-wise. The
accused Pratibha Thakur called all of them to her office in a school and gave
them forms, with instructions that they should practice filling those forms on
photocopies, after which original form would be got filled before senior
officers of railways; the accused Pratibha Thakur also collected copies of
their Aadhar cards and directed them to reach Naihati, Kolakata on
02.10.2018, where they would be required to pay her the money.

5.3 In Kolkata, the accused Pratibha Thakur got filled an original form
from them and collected Rs.1,50,000/- from them for getting them medically
examined. On 04.10.2018, the accused Pratibha Thakur got them medically
examined in the railway hospital and even collected their medical reports.
After that all of them returned to Delhi.

5.4 Within about 2-3 weeks, the accused Pratibha Thakur called them up
and informed about issuance of appointment letters, which letters were to be

BAIL APPLNS 3115/2024 & 3508/2024 Page 3 of 8 pages
Digitally signed by GIRISH KATHPALIA
DN: c=IN, o=HIGH COURT OF DELHI,
2.5.4.20=8401dd889b27a77b2f65ffffe4afec45
569af3962c6fb4835d435f97626cacca,
ou=HIGH COURT OF DELHI,CID - 7047638,
postalCode=110003, st=Delhi,
serialNumber=d3e86796451ec45c07b5d1557
0996b40f80cbd2eee60402c487965ff801e26fa,
cn=GIRISH KATHPALIA
Date: 2026.03.13 17:57:46 -07'00'
Digitally Signed
By:DIKSHA RAWAT
Signing Date:13.03.2026
17:59:32
GIRISH
KATHPALIA
Signature Not Verified

collected by them from Kharagpur, West Bengal, where they would be
accompanied with the accused Nitin Kaushik.

5.5 Once they reached Kharagpur, West Bengal, the accused Nitin
Kaushik showed them their appointment letters and collected Rs.3,75,000/-
from them.

5.6 On 15.11.2018, the accused Nitin Kaushik took them to railway office
and handed over their appointment letters to some officer, to whom he also
handed over a packet, assuring to pay the balance subsequent to completion
of work.

5.7 On 16.11.2018, all of them returned to Delhi and on 12.12.2018, the
accused Pratibha Thakur called them to collect their joining letter and
instructed them to go Hoogly, West Bengal with the accused Nitin Kaushik
for their training.

5.8 On 18.12.2018, the accused Pratibha Thakur and the accused Nitin
Kaushik met at the railway station two more persons namely Munish and
Anil, who also paid Rs.8,00,000/-. The accused Nitin Kaushik took all five
of them to Kharagpur and collected Rs.1,00,000/- from Munish and Anil
also for their medical examination. On 20.12.2018, the accused Nitin
Kaushik took Rs.6,75,000/- from them, informing that their training would
commence in Hoogly on 02.01.2019. Thereafter, they returned to Delhi.


BAIL APPLNS 3115/2024 & 3508/2024 Page 4 of 8 pages
Digitally signed by GIRISH KATHPALIA
DN: c=IN, o=HIGH COURT OF DELHI,
2.5.4.20=8401dd889b27a77b2f65ffffe4afec455
69af3962c6fb4835d435f97626cacca, ou=HIGH
COURT OF DELHI,CID - 7047638,
postalCode=110003, st=Delhi,
serialNumber=d3e86796451ec45c07b5d15570
996b40f80cbd2eee60402c487965ff801e26fa,
cn=GIRISH KATHPALIA
Digitally Signed Date: 2026.03.13 17:57:36 -07'00'
By:DIKSHA RAWAT
Signing Date:13.03.2026
17:59:32
GIRISH
KATHPALIA
Signature Not Verified

5.9 In January 2019, both accused/applicants took the said victims to
Hoogly where their training was carried out and in those sessions about 150
persons used to participate. During training they were even issued identity
cards. On 09.03.2019 their training concluded and they returned to Delhi
after being handed over training certificate by the accused Pratibha Thakur.
Till November 2019, the accused Pratibha Thakur kept avoiding them for
issuance of joining letter and finally on 20.11.2019, she gave the joining
letter to Govind, whereby he had to join at the Old Delhi Railway Station
during the period from 15.12.2019 to 20.01.2020.

5.10 When Govind reported at the Old Delhi Railway Station, he was
informed that the joining letter was forged. Govind confronted the accused
Pratibha Thakur and the accused Nitin Kaushik, after which the accused
Pratibha Thakur even issued a cheque of Rs.10,50,000/- to Govind and a
cheque of Rs.7,00,000/- to Neeraj, assuring to pay back the balance within a
few days. But those cheques got bounced. On again being contacted, the
accused Pratibha Thakur threatened to involve them in false rape cases.
Hence, the complaint of cheating and forgery.

6. Learned counsel for accused Pratibha Thakur contends that the
accused Pratibha Thakur herself is a victim of cheating and in this regard she
had issued a letter ( copy annexed with the bail application as Annexure-D )
to the General Manager, Rail Bhawan, Howra, West Bengal. It is also
contended that the accused Pratibha Thakur is innocent and has been falsely
involved because she wrote that letter to the railways. Towards

BAIL APPLNS 3115/2024 & 3508/2024 Page 5 of 8 pages
Digitally signed by GIRISH KATHPALIA
DN: c=IN, o=HIGH COURT OF DELHI,
2.5.4.20=8401dd889b27a77b2f65ffffe4afec
45569af3962c6fb4835d435f97626cacca,
ou=HIGH COURT OF DELHI,CID - 7047638,
postalCode=110003, st=Delhi,
serialNumber=d3e86796451ec45c07b5d1
5570996b40f80cbd2eee60402c487965ff80
1e26fa, cn=GIRISH KATHPALIA
Digitally Signed Date: 2026.03.13 17:57:26 -07'00'
By:DIKSHA RAWAT
Signing Date:13.03.2026
17:59:32
GIRISH
KATHPALIA
Signature Not Verified

acknowledgement of that letter, learned counsel for accused/applicant refers
to the communication dated 04.02.2020 ( copy annexed with the bail
application as Annexure-E ).

7. Learned counsel for accused Nitin Kaushik contends that no money
was received by him and the alleged victims have not shown the source of
their money which they allegedly paid. The accused Nitin Kaushik has been
regularly joining investigation. It is further submitted that chargesheet has
already been filed. For same offence, two different FIRs have been
registered by police according to learned counsel for accused Nitin Kaushik,
so he has to file application for consolidation of the two. The accused Nitin
Kaushik has already suffered two months imprisonment in the other FIR.

8. Learned APP and the victims present in court strongly oppose
anticipatory bail applications of the accused/applicants in view of nature of
the offence and the conduct of the accused/applicants during investigation.
As regards two different FIRs, it is explained by learned APP that both
pertain to different sets of victims, though the nature of fraud was similar.
Further, it is contended that custodial interrogation of the accused/applicants
would be required to unearth the manner in which the entire fraud was
carried out involving a number of other persons as well, some of whom
might be the serving employees of the railways. It is also submitted by
learned APP that further investigation is still pending because some of the
accused persons have absconded and warrants against them have been
obtained.

BAIL APPLNS 3115/2024 & 3508/2024 Page 6 of 8 pages
Digitally signed by GIRISH KATHPALIA
DN: c=IN, o=HIGH COURT OF DELHI,
2.5.4.20=8401dd889b27a77b2f65ffffe4afec4556
9af3962c6fb4835d435f97626cacca, ou=HIGH
COURT OF DELHI,CID - 7047638,
postalCode=110003, st=Delhi,
serialNumber=d3e86796451ec45c07b5d155709
96b40f80cbd2eee60402c487965ff801e26fa,
Digitally Signed cn=GIRISH KATHPALIA
Date: 2026.03.13 17:57:15 -07'00'
By:DIKSHA RAWAT
Signing Date:13.03.2026
17:59:32
Signature Not Verified
GIRISH
KATHPALIA

9. It is not a case of a simple fraud played on a gullible individual. A
number of young aspirants for government job were cheated. Many of the
parents, one of whom is today present in courtroom spent their life savings
so that their ward gets a job with railways. The accused/applicants not just
defrauded those job seekers, but even threatened to get them booked in false
rape case when they demanded their money back after bouncing of the
cheques.

10. Coming to the submission of accused Pratibha Thakur that she has
been victimised for raising the issue against the railway department, a
careful examination of the documents Annexures D and E, referred to by
learned counsel would show that the same appear to have been tailored
subsequently. The complaint Annexure-D does not bear any receiving stamp
of the addressee department nor any postal receipt has been filed or shown.
The document Annexure-E is stated to be the acknowledgment of receipt of
complaint Annexure-D. But this submission does not inspire confidence for
the reason that the complaint Annexure-D is undated while communication
Annexure-E refers to the letter dated 11.10.2019. Therefore, for the time
being I am unable to convince myself that accused Pratibha Thakur is being
victimised. Further, it is admitted by learned counsel that she is not an
employee of railways. If she acted only like a public spirited person, it
remains unexplained as to why she would issue cheques to the victims,
which cheques bounced.

11. As further described above, the accused/applicants took the victims to

BAIL APPLNS 3115/2024 & 3508/2024 Page 7 of 8 pages
Digitally signed by GIRISH KATHPALIA
DN: c=IN, o=HIGH COURT OF DELHI,
2.5.4.20=8401dd889b27a77b2f65ffffe4afe
c45569af3962c6fb4835d435f97626cacca,
ou=HIGH COURT OF DELHI,CID - 7047638,
postalCode=110003, st=Delhi,
serialNumber=d3e86796451ec45c07b5d1
5570996b40f80cbd2eee60402c487965ff8
Digitally Signed 01e26fa, cn=GIRISH KATHPALIA
Date: 2026.03.13 17:57:05 -07'00'
By:DIKSHA RAWAT
Signing Date:13.03.2026
17:59:32
Signature Not Verified
GIRISH
KATHPALIA

different offices and training centres of the railways department, which
could not have been possible without complicity of railway officials. This
vast network of fraud needs to be thoroughly investigated, for which
requirement expressed by the IO for custodial interrogation of the
accused/applicants does not sound unjustifiable.

12. Considering the above circumstances, I do not find these cases fit to
grant anticipatory bail. Therefore, both these applications are dismissed. The
accused/applicants are directed to surrender before the IO today itself at
05:00pm.
Digitally signed by GIRISH KATHPALIA
DN: c=IN, o=HIGH COURT OF DELHI,
2.5.4.20=8401dd889b27a77b2f65ffffe4afec4
5569af3962c6fb4835d435f97626cacca,
ou=HIGH COURT OF DELHI,CID - 7047638,
postalCode=110003, st=Delhi,
serialNumber=d3e86796451ec45c07b5d155
70996b40f80cbd2eee60402c487965ff801e2
6fa, cn=GIRISH KATHPALIA
Date: 2026.03.13 17:56:51 -07'00'

GIRISH
KATHPALIA


GIRISH KATHPALIA
(JUDGE)
ry
MARCH 13, 2026/

BAIL APPLNS 3115/2024 & 3508/2024 Page 8 of 8 pages
Signature Not Verified
Digitally Signed
By:DIKSHA RAWAT
Signing Date:13.03.2026
17:59:32