Granting anticipatory bail to Sanjay Gupta in the police commissioner 'forged' invite case, high court hauled up the police for 'over enthusiasm'

Filmmaker Sanjay Gupta was granted anticipatory bail by the Bombay High Court on Wednesday in a cheating and forgery case registered against him by the Versova police. Granting relief to the filmmaker, the court also remarked that the police had shown 'over enthusiasm' in the case and 'had lost their sense of humour'.

A case of forgery and cheating was registered against Gupta for 'forging' a letter on the Mumbai's police commissioner's letterhead inviting the media for the promotion of his upcoming movie Shootout at Wadala ('Sanjay Gupta and Balaji booked for fake police invites', March 2). Gupta had approached the High Court after the Sessions Court rejected his bail on Monday.

Justice AV Nirgude observed that all the offences Gupta was charged with were bailable, except Section 468 (forgery for the purposes of cheating). The court gave Gupta relief after observing that the police had failed to make out a prima facie case of forgery under this section.

Justice Nirgude said, "If the police thought it fit to register an offence against the applicant and others, it can be only said that the concerned police officer, who registered the offence, has lost his sense of humour. The applicant deserves protection."

Gupta was released on a bail of Rs 10, 000 on the condition that he writes a letter of apology to the Commissioner and to take down the invite from the website.

Justice Nirgude further observed, "The [police] admitted that this document was prepared for the purpose of launching the new film produced by (Gupta) and others.

Let us assume that [he] and others prepared this document with an intention to show that the police commissioner himself had invited the invitees for launching of the film as well as for listening to him while he would make a statement regarding police action proposed against organised crimes etc."

Even so, added Justice Nirgude, Gupta had not intended to cause 'wrongful gain to himself or wrongful loss to others', as per the Indian Penal Code.

Moreover, the allegation of fraud was absent from the complaint. Nor did the invite meet the definition of a 'false document' according to the IPC. The order also states, "The maker of this document very clearly and prominently mentioned, on the back of the document, that this was a promotional gimmick and should not be taken as official government document."