National Herald theft accused on run, declared absconder

Bhopal: A city court has declared Narendra Kumar Mittal, an accused in the National Herald's MP Nagar office theft case filed 17 years ago, an absconder, and issued a permanent warrant against him. The court also ordered the initiation of proceedings to attach his property.

The court of judicial magistrate first class (JMFC) Harsha Parmar on Friday directed SHO of the police station concerned to file monthly updates on their efforts to execute the warrant.

The report of theft was lodged at MP Nagar police station in 2008 by the workers' union of National Herald. Mittal and Harmendra Singh Bagga are accused in the case. Police, later, presented a closure report in the court, which was challenged by one of the complainants in the case, Mohd Saeed.

In 2014, the court reinstated the case against the accused but not for theft but breach of trust. Later, the charges against Bagga were dropped by the high court. However, a local court cancelled Mittal's bail and issued a warrant against him after he failed to turn up for surrender.

Advocate Santosh Kumar Verma, who appeared for the complainant, said the JMFC court on Friday issued a permanent warrant against Mittal after declaring him an absconder and also asked for initiating process for attachment of his property.