Overview
- The Bombay High Court special division bench of Chief Justice Shree Chandrashekhar and Justice Suman Shyam quashed the FIRs on Wednesday, ending the specific criminal proceedings brought by businessman Sanjay Punamiya.
- The court said Punamiya’s allegations lacked particulars, were speculative and appeared to arise from personal grudges, and it relied in part on police ‘C’ summary closure material to find no basis for the probes.
- Petitions before the bench challenged FIRs filed in 2024 that accused Pandey and others of reopening a closed 2016 case, coercing false statements to implicate senior politicians and using forged documents.
- Pandey’s lawyers argued the complaints were filed after an unexplained three‑year delay and were motivated by political vendetta, while several earlier HC judges had recused and the Supreme Court ordered a special bench to hear the matter.
- The quashing removes these particular criminal proceedings but does not halt separate, ongoing investigations and cases against Pandey by the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate, and the complainant may seek relief in the Supreme Court.