CBI court acquits three in 14-year-old Doordarshan ‘fake artist’ case

02/08/2026

SRINAGAR, Aug 1: A Special CBI Court in Srinagar has acquitted a former Doordarshan Kendra (DDK) Srinagar Programme Executive and two others in a 14-year-old alleged "fake artist" payment case, holding that the prosecution failed to establish the alleged criminal conspiracy or complete the chain of circumstantial evidence.
Special Judge Anti-Corruption (CBI Cases), Kashmir, Adnan Sayeed acquitted former DDK Srinagar Programme Executive Kousar Parve-en, Noor Ahmad Qazi & artist Shah-zad Aasim of charges under Sections 120-B, 419, 420, 467, 468 and 471 of the Ranbir Penal Code, besides provisions of the Jammu and Kashmir Prevention of Corruption Act.
The case arose from FIR No. RC 3(A)/2010 registered by the CBI's Anti-Corruption Branch, Srinagar, in July 2012. The agency alleged that between 2006 and 2009, payments issued by DDK Srinagar in the names of artists were deposited into bank accounts allegedly opened using fake identities.
According to the prosecution, a bank account was opened at the J&K State Cooperative Bank in the name of "Qazi Riyaz Ahmad", while the photograph of Shahzad Aasim was allegedly affixed to the account-opening form. It was alleged that Noor Ahmad Qazi filled portions of the account documents and that Kousar Parveen falsely identified him as an artist for receiving DDK cheques, resulting in a wrongful gain of Rs. 43,220.
After examining the evidence, the court held that the prosecution failed to produce any oral or documentary evidence showing that Kousar Parveen had facilitated the opening of the alleged fictitious account or derived any monetary benefit from the other accused.
The court noted that the investigating agency neither obtained her specimen signatures and handwriting nor sent the disputed signatures appearing on payment vouchers for expert examination.
Describing the omission as a "major lacuna", the court observed that although the prosecution alleged cheating, impersonation, forgery and criminal conspiracy, the foundational documents supporting those allegations had not been properly proved.
The judgment also noted that the programmes for which payments were made had actually been recorded and telecast. Witnesses from Doordarshan testified that payments could be released only after programmes were completed, verified through cue sheets, entered in the transmission log and certified by the Duty Officer.
The court observed that the prosecution failed to explain how the accused allegedly bypassed the multiple officials involved in processing and releasing payments and also did not examine several key officials associated with that process.
The court further questioned the investigation relating to a search conducted at a shop belonging to Noor Ahmad Qazi's brother, observing that the search warrant did not mention the shop, no independent witness was associated with the search and the shop owner was neither made an accused nor examined as a prosecution witness.
The court also noted that an investigating officer admitted that nothing connected with the case had been recovered from Kousar Parveen's room and that no evidence had been produced to show that any alleged proceeds were transferred to or shared with her.
Holding that criminal conspiracy requires clear evidence of a meeting of minds among the accused to commit an illegal act, the court found no such evidence on record.
"Although prosecution has produced 24 witnesses in person besides a lot of documentary evidence, they do not connect the chain," the court observed while holding that the charges of conspiracy, impersonation, cheating and forgery had not been proved beyond reasonable doubt.
Reiterating the settled principle that every accused is presumed innocent until proven guilty, the court held that a prosecution founded on assumptions and conjectures unsupported by legally admissible evidence could not result in conviction.
The court acquitted all three accused, discharged their bail and personal bonds, and directed that the seized property be returned to the concerned departments, offices and banks after the expiry of the appeal period.
Public Prosecutor Zahoor Ahmad Malik appeared for the CBI, while Advocates F.A. Kathwari, R.A. Joo and Farooq Shah represented the accused.

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