New Delhi: The Delhi police has prepared a closure report in a case of alleged cheating filed in March this year against a former employee of the Supreme Court, who levelled charges of sexual harassment against Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi, says a report in the Indian Express.

The police had on March 10 this year arrested the woman in the case and sent her to judicial custody. Two days later, she was granted bail and on March 14, the investigation was transferred to the Crime Branch.

When the woman’s sexual harassment allegations were made public in April this year, CJI Gogoi – and the secretary-general of the Supreme Court, on his behalf – tried to discredit her by bringing up cases that had been filed against her and other members of her family.

The secretary-general said in his public response that the woman’s family had “criminal antecedents”. “There were previously 2 criminal cases which had been instituted against her i.e. (1) FIR No. 484/11, P.S. Hari Nagar u/s 324, 341, 354, 506 , 34 IPC; (2) DD No. 30A dated 05.03.2012 u/s 107/150, IPC, P.S. Hari Nagar, SEM Court, Moti Nagar,” the secretary-general said.

Also read: Delhi Police Reinstate Husband, Kin of Woman Who Alleged Sexual Harassment by CJI Gogoi

The day the allegations were reported in the media, CJI Gogoi also made remarks in open court about the charges against her, while calling the sexual harassment charges part of a larger plot to “deactivate” him. He publicly said then that the woman who has raised the allegations has two FIRs against her and that he has asked the Delhi police how she was able to enter the Supreme Court service with a pending criminal case.

The complainant in the cheating case against the woman, 31-year-old Naveen Kumar, had accused the woman of taking Rs 50,000 from him on the pretext of getting him a job at the Supreme Court. Following her bail being granted, he also wrote to the DCP (Crime Branch) claiming that the accused woman and her associates were threatening him.

This cheating case, however, only came into the limelight after the woman made her accusations against Gogoi public. An in-house committee of the Supreme Court, comprising three judges, was constituted to probe the matter. When it issued a notice to the woman employee, she suggested several measure to ensure a “fair and equal hearing”.

The following month, the in-house committee gave the CJI a clean chit, saying it “found no substance” in the woman’s allegations.

Later, the former woman employee of the Supreme Court stated that she felt “scared and dejected”, and could not comprehend why the report of the three-judge committee was not shared with her.

The Delhi police all this while tried to persuade the courts to cancel the bail of the woman in the cheating case. On September 6, a Delhi court ruled that it would not cancel her bail.

Also read: The Gogoi Case and After: For the Sake of Justice, India’s Judiciary Needs Urgent Reform

The Indian Express report said now the Delhi police has prepared a closure report in the alleged cheating case. However, it quoted the woman’s husband as saying: “I am not aware of the closure report… Last I know is that the court dismissed their application to cancel my wife’s bail.”

The report said the closure report has been prepared since the complainant stated that he did not want to take “any further legal action”. He told the newspaper: “I don’t want any further action and there is no pressure on me. It is my personal choice…”

In the closure report, it has been stated that while the police tried to make headway in the probe, the death of a “middleman”, who allegedly took money from the complainant stalled the efforts. The police have added a caveat to the closure report that they will reopen the case if there is some fresh evidence in the future.

This closure report will now be submitted before the court, the article said.