Lucknow, May 19 (PTI) The Allahabad High Court on Monday rejected a petition by former Ambedkar Nagar MLA Pawan Pandey seeking quashing of criminal proceedings against him in a case of alleged land fraud.

Refusing to grant relief to Pandey, the high court's Lucknow bench said it cannot hold a mini-trial without giving an opportunity to the prosecution to prove its case by leading evidence before the trial court.

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According to the prosecution, the matter is related to the land belonging to a widow and her son Ajay Singh who had died on October 23, 2020.

It is alleged that Pawan Pandey's associate Mukesh Tiwari claimed the land worth crores of rupees by showing a fake sale agreement of August 25, 2020, by Ajay Singh.

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Not only this, a woman named Neetu Singh was also introduced with the intention of usurping the land and she claimed that on October 23, 2020, she had married Ajay Singh at an Arya Samaj temple, it is alleged.

Opposing the petition, Additional Advocate General VK Shahi argued that the investigation into the case has revealed that Pawan Pandey was the conspirator in the entire matter.

Shahi contended that since a "mini-trial" cannot be conducted at this stage, the present criminal proceedings against Pandey cannot be quashed.

After perusing the entire records, the bench found that the statements annexed with the record make out a case for Pandey's trial.

"The detailed evaluation of merits of the charges cannot be done by this court at this stage by holding a mini-trial and that too, without giving an opportunity to the prosecution to prove its case by leading evidence before the trial court," a bench of Justice Subhash Vidyarthi said, dismissing the former MLA's petition.

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