Nagpur: The Nagpur bench of Bombay High Court on Wednesday dismissed a petition of a Delhi-based doctor, Ravinderpal Singh Jaspal Singh, accused in the Chandrapur kidney transplant racket, for allegedly forging an affidavit submitted in court.A division bench comprising Justices Urmila Joshi-Phalke and Nivedita Mehta imposed Rs 25,000 penalty on him to be deposited in two weeks, failing which the matter would be listed again on July 15. The judges said the petitioner approached the court “not with clean hands” after the state pointed out discrepancies in an affidavit submitted on June 22.The petition challenged alleged actions of Brahmapuri police in Chandrapur district, claiming violation of the petitioner’s rights under Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution and provisions of Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissues Act.During the hearing, govt pleader and senior counsel Devendra Chauhan, assisted by Amit Chutke, argued the affidavit was placed on record “by playing a fraud on court”. They also produced the statement of lawyer and notary Poonam Moon along with extracts from the notary register.The notary claimed the petitioner did not appear before her for swearing the affidavit. The court further noted discrepancies in signatures appearing in the register extract and affidavit pages placed before it.Referring to Supreme Court rulings in Vijay Syal versus State of Punjab and K D Sharma versus Steel Authority of India, the bench stressed that litigants cannot be allowed to pollute judicial proceedings. “It is necessary that parties should not make false or knowingly inaccurate statements or misrepresentation,” the bench observed while underlining the need to preserve the sanctity of court proceedings.“The petitioner is not a layman. He is a doctor by profession. He approached this court, but not with clean hands,” the judges said.The Chandrapur case has drawn attention because of allegations involving unauthorised kidney transplantation procedures and suspected violations of transplant regulations, raising broader concerns over illegal organ trade networks. It also involved a “transborder investigation” with multiple accused and allegations of an organised illegal kidney transplant network spanning different states.
