A court in Delhi has closed criminal proceedings against a former Supreme Court staffer who had accused Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi of sexually harassing her, The Indian Express reported on Thursday. A 31-year-old man had accused the woman of cheating him of Rs 50,000 to get him a job at the Supreme Court.

Last week, the Delhi Police filed a closure report in the criminal case after the complainant Naveen Kumar told the police he did not want to pursue “any further legal action” against the woman.

Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Manish Khurana accepted the the Delhi Police Crime Branch’s closure report and sought Kumar’s presence before the court. Khurana had first issued a notice to Kumar on April 23, May 23, then July 19 and subsequently on September 6. Investigating officer Mukesh Antil had told the court earlier that the notices went unserved because he was not found at his address.

Kumar finally appeared before the court on September 16, and according to the court order accessed by The Indian Express, he told the judge that “he is satisfied with the investigation conducted by the police in this case”.

“He [Kumar] also stated that he does not want to file any protest petition and therefore, the closure report may be accepted as he does not want to pursue the present case,” the court said. “Statement of complainant to that effect has been recorded.”

The order added: “In view of the facts and circumstances, statement given by the complainant and the investigation conducted by the police in the present case, the Closure Report filed in the present case is hereby accepted. File be consigned to Record Room”.

However, the woman’s husband told the newspaper he did not know about the closure report. “Last I know is that the court dismissed their application to cancel my wife’s bail,” he said.

The case

On March 3, the Tilak Marg police station had registered a first information report against the woman based on Kumar’s complaint. He alleged that a man identified as Mansa Ram had taken him to meet the junior court assistant in June 2017. She allegedly promised to get him a job at the court, quoting a price of Rs 10 lakh. In the complaint, he claimed he gave her an advance of Rs 50,000. However, the woman rejected the charges against her as “false and frivolous”, and said she was being victimised for complaining against Gogoi.

Naveen Kumar was missing from his home in Haryana from April.

On April 19, the woman sent affidavits to 22 Supreme Court judges calling for an inquiry into the actions of Gogoi, who she claimed had not only harassed her but was also responsible for subsequent victimisation, which led to her and other members of her family losing their government jobs. Criminal cases were also reportedly filed against them. She was a junior court assistant at the time.

The police arrested the woman on March 10 for the alleged offences of cheating, criminal intimidation and criminal conspiracy. She was sent to judicial custody by a court the next day and granted bail on March 12.

The police sought the cancellation of bail after Kumar alleged that she had threatened him. Kumar also noted that Mansa Ram had died in January.

In April, Kumar’s mother Meena said her son left for Chandigarh at 7 am on April 20. His phone has been switched off since then. She also claimed that she had told him “not to file the case” as it was “not wise to fight with powerful people”. “He is scared for his life. When he left, he told me that everything was going to be all right,” she said. According to his family, Kumar used to work as a security guard in Jhajjar.

Also read:Chief Justice of India sexually harassed me, says former SC staffer in affidavit to 22 judges

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