District magistrate seeks removal of government lawyer ‘appearing for gangsters’

NOIDA: District magistrate BN Singh has written to the state government, seeking removal of a government prosecutor from his position, saying he had been appearing on behalf of gangsters, including Sunder Bhati and his accomplices like Ankit Gujjar, Singhraj and Avnesh.
The DM’s letter came after he sought a report from the public prosecutor on the activities of advocate Chaudhary Prem Singh. He received the report on June 18.

It has been mentioned the prosecutor appears in the court of additional sessions judge (fast track court-I) but leaves work to appear for gangsters.

“According to your report, earlier, Singh had been serving as a government lawyer in the court of the additional district judge II and in the same court, there were at least 12 cases against Sunder Bhati and his accomplices in which Prem Singh would himself appear on behalf of these gangsters,” the DM’s letter reads.

It further adds that at a meeting of prosecution on May 10, 2015 when the then Gautam Budh Nagar DM objected to this fact in 2015, Prem Singh himself gave an application to the court stating that the cases be transferred to another court as he himself was representing the gangsters.

It adds that Prem Singh currently appears before the additional sessions judge (fast track court I) but as clear from some videos circulating in social media, he appears for these gangsters in different courts skipping work of his own court.

“Prosecution is a strong area of state government and to represent the government, one is expected to remain fair and effective during prosecution. There can be many reasons for criminals getting scot-free in different cases but representation of gangsters by public prosecutors is against the interests of the government (sic),” states the letter.

“Prem Singh should hence be immediately stopped from representating the government and a separate inspection be conducted to remove him from the government panel,” the letter reads.

When asked about the DM’s letter, advocate Prem Singh told TOI that it was the district administration’s outlook. “When the previous district magistrate NP Singh had raised objections on my representing these people, I had said that I will not represent these people. It was said that this is morally incorrect. I had been representing these people till 2015 but not after that,” he claimed.