Vishal Singhal Vs State of Haryana and Another — Cheating and Forgery | Punjab & Haryana HC (2026)

Vishal Singhal Vs State of Haryana and Another — Cheating and Forgery | Punjab & Haryana HC (2026)

What the court decided

AI extract

Outcome

Petition allowed; order dated 04.09.2025 quashed and set aside; complainant may file a fresh application, and if it demonstrates evidence of criminal conspiracy and involvement of the petitioner, the trial court must apply its mind and pass a reasoned order before issuing notice; petitioner permitted to appear through counsel; pending applications closed.

Issue for consideration

Whether the petitioner, already absolved by the investigator, could be summoned as an additional accused on the complainant's application under Section 358 BNSS.

Court's answer

The complainant's application disclosed no iota of criminal conspiracy and attributed no role whatsoever to the petitioner.

Ratio / Principle

The order summoning the petitioner as an additional accused was silent on the basis on which notice had been issued.

Key takeaways

The petition is allowed and the order dated 04.09.2025 is quashed and set aside.ratio¶24
If the complainant files a fresh application demonstrating evidence of criminal conspiracy and involvement of petitioner-Vishal, the trial court shall apply its mind and pass a reasoned order before issuance of notice; the petitioner may appear before the trial court through counsel.ratio¶24

Detailed headnote1 paragraphs

Criminal revision (CRR-2474-2025), High Court of Punjab & Haryana at Chandigarh, Anoop Chitkara, J., decided 21.01.2026. Petitioner Vishal Singhal challenged his summoning as an additional accused (order dated 21.08.2025, Judicial Magistrate, Ist Class, Kaithal) sought by the complainant through an application under Section 358 BNSS 2023 arising from FIR No. 111 dated 22.03.2018, Police Station Civil Line, Kaithal (sections 406, 409, 420, 120B IPC). The Court found the application contained no allegation of criminal conspiracy and attributed no role to the petitioner, whom the investigator had absolved, and that the summoning order was silent on the basis for issuing notice. Petition allowed; order dated 04.09.2025 quashed and set aside (this date differs from the 21.08.2025 date recorded as the impugned order); on any fresh application demonstrating evidence of criminal conspiracy and involvement of petitioner-Vishal, the trial court must apply its mind and pass a reasoned order before issuance of notice, and the petitioner may appear through counsel. Marked 'Whether speaking/reasoned: Yes; Whether reportable: No.'

1

CRR-2474-2025

IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB & HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH

CRR-2474-2025 Date of decision: 21.01.2026

Vishal Singhal

... Petitioner

VS.

State of Haryana and another

... Respondents

CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE ANOOP CHITKARA

Present: Mr. Gurmohan Singh Bedi, Advocate for the petitioner.

Mr. Shiva Khurmi, DAG, Haryana.

Mr. Sachin Gupta (Ladwa), Advocate for respondent No.2.

ANOOP CHITKARA, J.

FIR No.	Dated	Police Station	Sections
111	22.03.2018	Civil Line, Kaithal	406, 409, 420, 120B IPC

Aggrieved by the order dated 21.08.2025 passed by the Judicial Magistrate, Ist Class, Kaithal, vide which petitioner was summoned as an additional accused to face trial in an application filed under Section 358 BNSS by the complainant, petitioner has come up before this Court by filing the present criminal revision petition.

Vakalatnama on behalf of respondent No.2 is taken on record.

I have heard counsel for the parties and gone through the Annexure P-13 i.e application filed by the complainant under Section 358 BNSS 2023 for summoning of Vishal.

A perusal of the application does not mention even any iota of criminal conspiracy or any role attributed to petitioner, whatever is mentioned is that he was arrayed as accused in FIR and investigator absolved him. Moreover, order to summon the petitioner as an additional accused is also silent that on what basis notice has been issued.

ANJU RANI 2026.01.27 09:24 I attest to the accuracy and integrity of this document Punjab and Haryana High Court Chandigarh

2

CRR-2474-2025

Given above, the present petition is allowed with the aforesaid observation and order dated 04.09.2025 is quashed and set aside with observation that if complainant files fresh application, whereby he is able to demonstrate the evidence on criminal conspiracy and involvement of petitioner-Vishal then before issuance of notice, trial Court shall apply its mind and shall pass a reasoned order. It is further clarified that it shall be permissible for the petitioner to appear before trial Court through his counsel at the time of proceeding, if any, taken on application filed by complainant. All pending application(s), if any, stand closed.

(ANOOP CHITKARA) JUDGE

21.01.2026 anju rani Whether speaking/reasoned: Yes Whether reportable: No

ANJU RANI 2026.01.27 09:24 I attest to the accuracy and integrity of this document Punjab and Haryana High Court Chandigarh