Delhi court acquits ex-MLA Ranbir Kharb, wife Anita in investor fraud case

A Delhi court on Wednesday acquitted former MLA Ranbir Singh Kharb and his wife Anita Kharb in a case of defrauding investors between 1998 and 2004. Special Judge Kaveri Baweja passed the order on an appeal filed by the Kharbs against an order by a magisterial court, which had convicted the couple and sentenced them to a seven-year jail term. The special court said there were "glaring contradictions" and "discrepancies" in the prosecution's case which the trial had failed to appreciate. "On the basis of evidence on record and the discrepancies discussed... I am of the considered opinion that the appellants could not have been convicted for the alleged offences... Both the appellants are accordingly acquitted," the judge ordered. The bench said the prosecution had failed to bring home the guilt of the appellants beyond the realm of reasonable doubt. Ranbir Singh Kharb, 62, and Anita Kharb, 56, had approached the special court against the order of the magisterial court, saying that