Blank Signed Sheets Found in Gurugram Cyber Case File

GURUGRAM: A district court has flagged serious record-keeping irregularities in a cybercrime investigation after signed blank sheets and unsigned proceedings were found in the police file during the hearing of a bail application.

The issue surfaced when the investigation file was produced before the court without pagination. The court had the papers numbered so that the record could be examined in a fixed sequence. During that exercise, multiple blank pages carrying signatures attributed to accused persons were found in the file, along with investigation proceedings that had not been signed by the investigating officer or other officials concerned.

The court sought an affidavit from Assistant Commissioner of Police for cybercrime Gaurav Phogat. In the affidavit filed on August 18, the police acknowledged that blank signed pages relating to several accused were present and described the lapse as serious and impermissible. A departmental inquiry was also promised.

No conclusion about the underlying cybercrime allegations follows merely from these paperwork defects. The criminal case and the question of an accused person's guilt remain subject to investigation and trial. The irregularities instead concern the integrity of the investigative record: who prepared a document, when it was completed and whether a signature was taken against a finished statement or on an empty sheet.

Why blank signatures raise concern

A signed blank page creates an obvious risk that words could be added later without a reliable way to establish whether the signatory saw or accepted them. Even where no misuse is ultimately shown, the presence of such pages weakens confidence in the chain of documentation and can complicate judicial scrutiny of arrest, disclosure and recovery proceedings.

Pagination is equally basic. A numbered file makes it harder for pages to be inserted, removed or rearranged without detection and allows the court, prosecution and defence to refer to the same record. An unpaginated file in a case involving digital evidence is especially troubling because electronic trails already require careful preservation and a clear chain of custody.

Departmental review now expected

The promised inquiry will need to establish how the papers entered the file, which officers handled them and whether similar practices affected any substantive step in the investigation. It should also determine why proceedings were left unsigned and whether supervisory checks were carried out before the file was sent to court.

For the cybercrime unit, the immediate corrective work goes beyond fixing one folder. Standard pagination, dated signatures, page-by-page verification and a supervisory checklist can prevent avoidable disputes. Digital evidence may be technical, but the paper trail that explains its seizure and examination still has to meet ordinary standards of accuracy.

The court's intervention demonstrates how a bail hearing can also test the quality of an investigation. A fair process protects both sides: it safeguards accused persons from unreliable documentation and helps prosecutors present evidence that can withstand challenge. The departmental findings, when completed, will be important in showing whether this was an isolated lapse or a broader training and supervision problem.