Gurudwara a pious place, misappropriation of its funds hurts sentiments of people: Punjab & Haryana High Court

A Gurudwara is a pious place and the misappropriation of its funds could hurt public sentiments, the Punjab and Haryana High Court recently observed while denying anticipatory bail to persons accused of siphoning off the funds of the Gurudwara Singh Sabha at Hisar [Sarjeet Singh @ Surjeet Singh and others v. State of Haryana]..Opining that the allegations against the accused were serious, Justice Harnaresh Singh Gill was of the view that setting them free would set a bad example and give oxygen to fraudsters.."The Gurudwara is a pious place and the misappropriation of its funds hurts the sentiments of several people. Setting the petitioners free would set a bad example and would give oxygen to the fraudsters. As such, they do not deserve any concession of anticipatory bail," the order stated..The Court was hearing a set of anticipatory bail pleas moved by certain members of the Gurudwara Singh Sabha who were stated to be responsible for various activities of Gurudwara..A criminal case had been registered against them for cheating and allied offences, citing Sections 420, 406 and 120-B of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). The complainant had alleged that several fixed deposit receipts (FDRs) in the name of the Gurudwara Singh Sabha were closed prematurely and further that the funds from said fixed deposits were transferred to the personal bank accounts of the accused. The Court was told that an amount of about ₹71 lakh had been transferred to personal accounts and even to an account of a private company run by one of the accused. In their anticipatory bail pleas, the accused argued that they have falsely been implicated in the matter and that not a single penny had been usurped by them. It was further argued that the amount withdrawn by the accused was used for construction and repair work of the Gurudwara as well as the shops of the Gurudwara Committee..The Court, however, was of the view that the accused did not deserve anticipatory bail. It dismissed the anticipatory bail pleas moved by the accused persons, while observing,"Keeping in view the nature and gravity of the offence, this Court finds that the petitioners are required for custodial interrogation to recover the amount and to take the investigation to its logical conclusion.".[Read Order]