‘Stock Guru’ Scam: Delhi HC Discharges IT Official in Corruption Charges

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 they demanded and accepted illegal gratification from Ullhas Prabhakar who was running a scam under the name of Stock Guru India.

It was alleged that he accused Ullhas Prabhakar at the instance of the petitioner delivered Rs 5 crores on February 2, 2011 to an address in Lajpat Nagar and also paid a second instalment of Rs 10 crores on February 8, 2011, at the same place. In addition, it was also alleged that he demanded and accepted a bribe to settle the matter in favour of Ullhas Prabhakar who allegedly committed cheating of hundreds of crores in seven states.

Justice Sudhir Kumar Jain said, “In the present case the material collected during the investigation by the CBI is not sufficient to frame the charge against the petitioner.”

“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,” Justice Jain said in the judgement of January 15, 2024.

“The petitioner stands discharged for the offences for which he was discharged,” the high court said in the judgement.

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.

An FIR dated June 26, 2012 was registered at Moti Nagar Police Station in New Delhi, and on the alleged disclosure statement of Ulhas Prabhakar made in Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) FIR on January 9, 2013 was registered by the CBI, under section 120-B of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and under sections 7, 12, 13(2) read with section 13(1) (d) of Prevention of Corruption Act.

The accused in the case admitted that during a search, he offered money to the petitioner to influence the matter. However, the petitioner, Mittal, allegedly demanded a bribe from a different source, apart from the recovered money, to prepare a favorable report within 12 months. The report would show that the accused had an income of Rs.105 crores and the recovered money would be adjusted as Income Tax.

Reportedly, the petitioner also assured the accused that all frozen accounts would be opened if he could arrange money for him. The accused revealed that he disclosed information about his flat in Bhiwadi, Rajasthan, where he had kept Rs 42-44 crore.

It was allegedly agreed that 50 percent of this cash would be given to the IT officials for a favorable decision. However, the accused, after paying Rs 5 crores, became suspicious of the petitioner’s intentions. Consequently, he recorded conversations with the petitioner using a camera wristwatch, and the recordings were stored in two separate hard disks.