Chhattisgarh Court Issues Notice On Plea Alleging Fabricated Statements Filed By EOW U/S 164 CrPC In Alleged Coal Scam

The officers against whom the complaint was filed included Amresh Mishra, Director of State Crime Investigation/ACB; Rahul Sharma, Deputy Superintendent of Police; and Chandresh Thakur, Additional Superintendent of Police in State Criminal Investigation/ACB.

Initially, the Supreme Court had passed a general order granting interim bail to several accused named in Crime No.02/2024 (District Mineral Foundation case) and 03/2024 (Chhattisgarh Coal Scam), including one Suryakant Tiwari, against which the the State Criminal Investigation/ACB filed an application with the intention of quashing the order passed in respect of Tiwari. Affixed to the application was a document recorded under Section 164 of CrPC of co-accused Nikhil Chankrakar.

As per the complaint, Nikhil Chandrakar— who was imprisoned in District Jail, Dhamtari, in connection with another case, was, on the instructions of Amresh Mishra, brought before the Court of Judicial Magistrate First Class Raipur, Presiding Officer Kamini Verma, for recording of his statement under Section 164 of CrPC.

It was noted that the statement was not recorded in the manner ascertained by law and upon close scrutiny, it transpired that the documents allegedly prepared by Nikhil Chandrakar under Section 164 CrPC had not, in fact, been recorded in the Court of the Judicial Magistrate First Class. The complaint alleged that the said documents were prepared by the accused officers themselves, who later falsely represented the same as judicially recorded. The complaint further alleged that instead of recording his statement, the accused officers plugged a pen drive containing the pre-recorded statements into the computer system placed before the Presiding Officer, and thereafter printed the fabricated documents and later obtained signatures from both, the Presiding Officer and Nikhil Chandrakar.

The crimes in these recordings pertained to the District Mineral Foundation case and the Chhattisgarh Coal Scam, involving serious allegations of financial misconduct and corruption.

The complaint thus stated, “That the accused were aware from the very beginning that the document related to Section 164 Cr.P.C. was fabricated and false and such fabricated and false document was prepared with the intention of using it as evidence and false evidence was fabricated conspiratorially and for the sake of false evidence, the fabricated document related to Section 164 Cr.P.C. was prepared and made a part of the investigation. The accused are said to have prepared the above mentioned document in a malicious manner, with the intention of cheating, in the judicial process”

The complaint further alleged that on 09.10.2025, Mr.Imran Khan, Forensic Consultant and Examiner, submitted a report concluding that mixed font had been used in the document prepared under Section 164 CrPC in respect of Nikhil Chandrakar and the said document was different in font from the order books received from the Court of Judicial Magistrate.

“It is clear from the above that the document under Section 164 CrPC prepared in respect of Nikhil Chandrakar is fabricated and falsely prepared and has not been prepared during the judicial process. That the accused were aware from the very beginning that the document related to Section 164 Cr.P.C. was fabricated and false and such fabricated and false document was prepared with the intention of using it as evidence and false evidence was fabricated conspiratorially and for the sake of false evidence, the fabricated document related to Section 164 Cr.P.C. was prepared and made a part of the investigation. The accused are said to have prepared the above mentioned document in a malicious manner, with the intention of cheating, in the judicial process.”, the complaint stated.

In order to verify the allegations, the Complaint specifically demanded the securing of the CCTV footage of the courtrooms of the concerned Presiding Officers, as well as the entire Court premises of the relevant dates.