Pradeep Raghu Wanshi v. Central Bureau of Investigation
ILR 2022 MP 2107
In the High Court of Madhya Pradesh
MCRC 20482/2021
Before Chief Justice Ravi Malimath and Justice Vishal Mishra
Decided on August 25, 2022

Relevancy of the Case: Can the accused seek a copy of electronic materials recovered during the investigation that are irrelevant to his case?

Statutes and Provisions Involved

• The Information Technology Act, 2000 (Section 65, 66)
• The Madhya Pradesh Recognised Examinations Act, 1937 (Section 4, 3D(1)(2))
• The Indian Penal Code, 1860 (Section 120B, 201, 420, 467, 468, 471)
• The Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 (Section 13)
• The Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (Section 19, 207, 482)

Relevant Facts of the Case

• The petitioner is the accused in the present case. He filed an application to obtain the cloned copies of certain documents and CDs the prosecution recovered during the investigation.
• The Sessions judge rejected the application. As a result, he filed the present application.

Prominent Arguments

• The petitioner’s counsel relied on multiple judgements stating that the accused was entitled to inspect the electronic records used by the prosecution.
• The prosecution argued that copies of the relevant materials had already been provided to the accused. Further, they claimed that these CDs contained various other materials outside the case. The petitioner was asking for material that was not relevant to the case.

Opinion of the Bench

• The relevant material relied upon by the prosecution had been provided to the accused. The petitioner was essentially asking for cloned copies of various other materials that, according to him, only had a bearing on the case.
• The court held that the accused would not be entitled to the same, considering it was not related to him in any manner whatsoever.

Final Decision

• The court dismissed the petition.

Arnav Kaman, an undergraduate student at Rajiv Gandhi National University of Law, Punjab, prepared this case summary during his internship with The Cyber Blog India in January/February 2024.