RAKESH SINGH @ RAKESH KR.SINGH & Ors v. THE STATE OF BIHAR & Ors

: Mr. Vinod Kumar, Advocate. : Mr. Jharkhandi Upadhyay, A.P.P. : None. ----------- O R D E R Three of the four accused of Complaint Case No.1596(C) of 2005 have filed the instant application for quashing of the entire criminal proceedings as against them including the order dated

28.9.2005 passed therein by Sri K.K. Singh, the erstwhile Judicial Magistrate, First Class, Begusarai, whereby finding a prima facie case to have been made out he had taken cognizance against the petitioner for offences under Sections 467 and 468 I.P.C. and the consequential order dated 1.6.2006 passed by the learned Presiding Judge, Fast Track Court No.II, Begusarai, rejecting Criminal Revision No.404 of 2005 preferred by the petitioners against the order dated 28.9.2005. It appears that one Kedar Singh, impleaded herein as O.P. - 2 - No.2 filed the aforesaid complaint on 24.8.2005 inter alia stating that 10 kathas of land appertaining to khata no.2, khesra no.1248/1266 was purchased by his father from one Biranchi Mishra and consequent to the death of his father he had come in peaceful and continuous possession over the same. It is said that as his father fell in the need of money he orally mortgaged the said land to one Prem Sagar Singh and having loaned the money the said Prem Sagar Singh came in possession of the said lands. It is alleged that the three petitioners herein started cultivating the land and with passage of time they became interested in the said lands and conspired to usurp the same. It is said that the complainant also fell in need of money and got prepared a mahadnama wherein the said Prem Sagar Singh figured as attesting witness and had put his thumb impression thereupon in token thereof. Since the complainant was not able to gather funds to redeem the mahadnama he sold three kathas thereof but as the accused had covetous eyes thereupon they filed a proceeding under Sections 144 and 145 Cr.P.C. against the complainant which was decided against them and against the said order they filed Criminal Revision which is still pending. Thereafter, the complainant is said to have filed Title Suit No.314 of 2004 against the petitioners herein which too is pending. It is alleged that Tara Devi, the mother of petitioner nos.1 and 2 had died some 20-25 years back but the accused having hatched a conspiracy got prepared a forged sale deed in her favour and on the basis thereof filed an application before the Circle Officer, Begusarai, for mutation of the said lands in their favour. Following an inquiry it - 3 - was found that the sale deed was forged whereafter the application for mutation was rejected and therein it was observed that the opposite party, namely, the complainant herein, if so desirous, may file a case of forgery before a competent court. Assailing the impugned order, it has been submitted by the learned counsel for the petitioners that although the land appertaining to khata no.1248 was purchased from one Biranchi Mishra by Tara Devi, the mother of petitioner nos.1 and 2 vide registered sale deed dated 8.7.1957 yet the complainant in his complaint claimed that the said land had been purchased by his father from Biranchi Mishra vide sale deed dated 12.2.1960. The allegation of the petitioners is that it was the complainant who wanted to grab the lands in question on the basis of forged documents and without any right or title thereupon he executed a kebala in favour of one Krishna Kumar Singh claiming that the said lands had been transferred in the name of his father. Having come to know of the fraudulent transfer petitioner no.1 filed Begusarai Town P.S. Case No.21 of 2005 against the complainant and others and the same was registered under Sections 420, 465, 468, 471 and 120-B I.P.C. It is also submitted that the proceeding under Section 144 Cr.P.C. by the complainant bearing Case No.195 of 2004 was subsequently converted into a proceeding under Section 145 Cr.P.C. which was disposed of vide order dated 25.10.2004 with the observation that that the court had no jurisdiction to decide the matter as it related to matters within jurisdiction of the Civil Court. The further submission on behalf of the petitioners is that the order of the - 4 - Circle Officer of the document being forged is based on irrelevant and extraneous materials and appears to be collusive since report of the Halka Karmchari was that the lands in question were in the name of Tara Devi. Admitting the fact of pendency of Title Suit No.314 of 2004, it was submitted that a Pleader Commissioner was appointed therein who in his report did not find any separate plot of land which only goes to show that the assertions of the complainant of having sold 3 kathas of land by way of redeeming the mahadnama and handing over possession does not appear to be correct. The report of the Sub Registrar showing the names to be recorded is also said to be baseless and managed by the complainant. It has also been submitted that the entire dispute relates to a civil matter which can be decided only by a competent civil courts and since a civil dispute being Title Suit No.314 of 2004 was pending adjudication the petitioners cannot be made liable for criminal offence. It has finally been submitted that co-accused, Lakhan Deo Singh alias Lakhan Lal Singh had preferred Criminal Misc. No.28052 of 2006 which was heard alongwith Criminal Misc. No.37129 of 2005 preferred by Kedar Singh(the complainant) and others wherein the learned counsel for both the parties submitted that it was basically a civil dispute for which the parties had already approached the Civil Court for adjudication and this Court by order dated 20.2.2007 passed therein allowed both the applications and quashed the impugned order. Photo copy of the order dated 20.2.2007 passed in Criminal Misc. No.37129 of 2005 has been appended to the application as Annexure- - 5 - 8 and from perusal thereof it appears that a Bench of this Court had indeed quashed the order dated 28.9.2005 passed in Complaint Case. Naturally the consequence of quashing of the order dated

28.9.2005 would mean that the order of cognizance taken by the learned Sub Divisional Judicial Magistrate in Complaint Case No.1596(C) of 2005 had been quashed and similar relief has to go to petitioners herein as Lakhandeo Singh alias Lakhan Lal Singh, petitioner of Criminal Misc. No.28052 of 2006, had been made to figure as an accused alongwith these petitioners. In the result, this application is allowed and the impugned orders of the courts below are hereby quashed. (Abhijit Sinha,J) Patna High Court, Patna. Dated: The 28th of May, 2009. Pradeep Srivastava/A.F.R.