The Rajasthan High Court has granted interim protection from arrest to Santosh Bansal, former chairperson of the Hanumangarh Municipal Council, in a case involving missing municipal files and alleged embezzlement. The order keeps the criminal proceedings pending while temporarily preventing her arrest in connection with the FIR registered at Hanumangarh Town police station.
A single-judge bench of Justice Sanjeet Purohit at the high court’s principal seat in Jodhpur passed the order on Wednesday after hearing Bansal’s petition. The court observed that her contention that the FIR was intended to harass her and was politically motivated had prima facie merit. It cited the registration of multiple FIRs within a short period and the delay in reporting the alleged offences.
The court admitted the petition for consideration and directed that it be listed after four weeks. Until then, Bansal is not to be arrested in connection with the FIR. The case invokes Sections 381, 409, 193 and 120-B of the Indian Penal Code, relating to theft by an employee, criminal breach of trust, fabricating false evidence and criminal conspiracy.
The allegations concern missing municipal records and alleged irregularities. Bansal’s counsel, Kunal Upadhyay, argued that the case was malicious and politically motivated. He told the court that two earlier cases involving alleged incidents dating back to 2003 had been quashed by a coordinate bench on September 29, with the court finding the proceedings to be an abuse of legal process intended to harass her.
The defence further argued that the present FIR, registered in 2026, relates to alleged incidents dating back to 2006 and 2013. According to the submissions recorded in the proceedings, the allegations were general and did not establish Bansal’s individual role in the alleged offences. Her counsel also said that allegations of misappropriation and disappearance of government files were directed at co-accused Malchand and Gangaram, who had separately secured interim protection from arrest from a coordinate bench.
The order places the case within a wider administrative concern for municipal bodies: the preservation, control and accountability of public records. Municipal files are used to establish decisions, approvals, expenditure and the implementation of civic works. In this case, however, the court’s order only concerns interim protection from arrest and the continuation of the petition; it does not determine whether the allegations are proved.
The proceedings will next be considered when the matter is listed after four weeks. The FIR and the allegations against the accused remain subject to further judicial examination.
