Father and son arrested for uploading fake bail orders on Rajasthan High Court website

A 53-year-old man from Ludhiana, Punjab, and his son have been arrested on charges of conspiring to upload fake bail orders on the official website of the Rajasthan High Court, according to a report by Hindustan Times. The accused have been identified as Kulwinder Singh Panesar and his son Manpreet Singh, who have been brought to Jodhpur for interrogation.

DCP (West) Kamal Shekhawat stated that the arrest was made by the Kudi Bhagatsuni police following the directions of Jodhpur Police Commissioner Anshuman Bhomia. Manpreet Singh is believed to have returned from Canada to save his father from arrest and was involved in the conspiracy to prepare fake court orders. Detailed interrogation of both accused is still pending, and the full aspects of this conspiracy will emerge during the investigation, Shekhawat added.

Kulwinder Singh Panesar was previously arrested in a case involving the seizure of 8.061 kg of opium in Sri Ganganagar district. An offence was registered against him at the Rajiyasar police station under Sections 8/18, 25, and 29 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act. According to the police, Panesar was granted interim bail, but he failed to surrender on 9 June after the stipulated period ended. Subsequently, the High Court cancelled his bail bond and issued a warrant for his arrest.

However, to prevent Panesar's arrest, three fake judicial orders dated 12, 15, and 26 October, 2026, were presented before the police. The order dated 26 October stated, under the name of Justice Chandrashekhar Sharma, that Panesar's interim bail had now been converted into regular bail. This fraud came to light on 3 November, prompting the High Court administration to initiate an investigation. Preliminary verification revealed that no cases were listed for hearing on the mentioned dates and no such judicial directions had been issued.

Panesar's lawyer, Kailash Khilariya, stated that he had filed an application for regular bail during the interim bail hearing on 6 May, but had decided not to proceed further as Panesar did not surrender. Subsequently, Manpreet obtained the case file after securing a no-objection certificate. When Khilariya learned that Panesar had been granted regular bail, he became suspicious and contacted the staff of Justice Sharma's bench to verify the order. Discrepancies in the case registration numbers also raised suspicions.

The number of criminal bail applications filed in 2026 had reached 15,047, whereas the fake orders showed registration numbers 18,756 and 15,786. Additional Advocate General Deepak Chaudhary also questioned the authenticity of the 26 October order, as it named a lawyer named A. Sharma as the government representative, whereas no government lawyer by that name was working in the High Court. The police are now investigating to identify other individuals involved in preparing and uploading these fake orders and to determine how the website was tampered with.

The Rajasthan High Court is a high judicial court in India that serves the state of Rajasthan. It plays a vital role in the state's judicial administration and hears various civil and criminal cases under its jurisdiction.