The High Court · 2025

1. The 9tate of relangana, represented by its pubric prosecutor High court for the State of Telangana at Hyderabad. ' ...RESPONDENT/STATE Petition under section 482 of cr.p.c praying that in the circumstances stated in the Memorandum of Grounds of criminal petition, the High court may be pleased to call for the records relating to cc. No. g2o ot 2019 out of crime No.307 of 2018 on the file of the court of vl Addl. Judicial Firs"t class Magistrate, at. Warangal and quash the proceedings in CC.No. g20 of 2019. -arising :1:- t.A. NO:10f: 2to1,r-:2 Petitio r .rrtrL)r Secl in t'" v ",,.,,,,"#? L?il:.":i3,,*,;llT^l lat_ 3t-ate! in., r re circumstances nlf ;l.;i*,iu,:ur[3i:,ii":li,'d{ j;f This pr:titior. comin ',,;,'..;,;""B":X,J:' Grounds Sri A Prabhakar Ra6, Advocar. ,^, r,I^'1,^.1f"" ,o, the petitioner on behalf of the lf r-.r;,ondu::..r" ", i""1,.rJ;r"".f""1::,3 '[".;***;,,1il,iif[{il.t the r\4emorandum or nearlng the arguments of anO tfre pc Oilc ,r"1".rr", frGl The Court marle ftre following: ORDER --_----' HON'BLE SMT. JUSTICE JUWADI SRIDEVI CRIMINAL PETITION No. 692 of 2022 ORDER: This Criminal Petition is filed under Section 482 of Criminal Procedure Code, by the petitioners/accused Nos.3 to 7 to quash the proceedings against them in C.C.No.g20 of 2O19on the file of Vl Additional Judicial First Class lVlagistrate at Warangal, registered for the offences punishable under Sections 1gB, 171(E) of lndian Penat Code (for short ,tpC,) and section 123(1) ot Representation of People Act (for short ,Rp Act,).

2. Heard Sri A.Prabhakar Rao, learned counsel for petitioners as well as Smt. S.Madhavi, learned Assistant public prosecutor appearing for the respondent-State and perused the record.

3. The case of the prosecution is that on the night of 27.11.2018 at 03.15 hours, while flying squad team were conducting vehicle checking, they stopped a KU car bearing No.TS 24 A 9034 and when they checked the car, they found 44 to 46 in the car with cash of Rs..l ,15,gS0/_ with 44 and Rs.5,00,000/- each with A5 and 46 pertaining to Vaddiraju Ravichandra contested candidate for distributing the same to the voters in violation of [Vlodal Code of Conduct. lmmediately by securing presence of mediators, they interrogated accused No.4 to 6 and recorded confessional statements, wherein they stated I ''l 2 about acou'sec No.3 that he gave the said money for dis"ribution to the vote|s ,qni i6 pursuance of confession they pr oceeded to Bank colorry' and apprehended A7 and st:izetj cash of Rs.2,32,00C/-, rxotorcycle and cell phones and Rs 4'3{1,00'l/- from the lnnov;a '.:ar rvith 47. They seized total Rs 17 '77 ,85(tl- ni:t cash, car, motcr ,;yr la, cell phones and laptop The Sub nsp'-'ctor of Police on rt,:ceitrt of complaint, registered a case in C r N<' 307 of 2O1B for thr: cffences punishable under sections 1Btl 1 ' 1(E) of IPC and ser:{i:n 123(1) of R P Act' Lea rrreri counsel appearing for petitioners sutlmitf ed that

4. the entire r:as= of the prosecution is based on the corfession statements lf he accused Except the confession staiements, no material rvars r:,tllected during the investigalion by tlte p olice in proof of tlre arllegations alleged against lhe 5retitione s The petitioners; .vete falsely implicated in the above t:rim: ard have nothing to :lc rvith the present crime lt is not the ;ase of the prosecution th ,t the cash was seized from the petiti:ner s while they are dislri rL ting to the voters'

5. LearnerJ r;ounsel for the petitioners, while praying fo'quash of proceedirrclt; against the accused persons, reliecl up on two 3 decisions held by this Court in Sunil Kumar Ahuja and another v. State of Tetangana and anotherl ,wherein it was held as_ "171-8. Bribery (1) Whoe :ll,:i"!l;i":;i,,:i:,[/i:;ii;:{;Y,::,,::',:,::!"::'":; 'ng any person for having exercised any such right or (ii) accepts either for himseh as a reward for e^ur",",ro u).?' lo', ", i t o i n d u ce oflence of oi,ori" i.riorlrtu promise of publtc acr,n shall :h^a,t -a "-, i,," r. i!.1,,, {^" :: :. :::, : : ^ any other person any gratification r i n d u c i n s' o i a t t e m p t i n s exelctse any such tight commits the decl:ration of publtc poticy or a nol be an of[ence under lhis sechon. (2) A person who offers, or, procure, a gratificutio, to give' or offers or attempts to ol9'"us ) deemed to gjve a gratification "hutt ;;';;;;;;;e/ecs (3) A person who obtains or e /o accept or attempts to o[t21n 2 sratirication "r",i who accepts a gtattttcation,!','3^":|^",:.*:,:"atio:. and a person uultg wnat he does not inlend lo do. or as a reward fc deemed to have lc;;;,;;,;:;,';,::,i:":::::;":l,done. shar be ' 171-E punishment for bnbe'I the offence of DrDery shal be punshed with ,':^Y!?*'.commits term whrch mav o\tan.t,^ ^^^ ll,,"on.rnt of either description tor a *,, o,,oi",y iii,J)',i;; :;;i;"';:: :;"-;,:I:f,! both: provided "yil Explanatnn.,,Treating,, "*"rri"uo- "),JnPttoett k, enteftainment, or proviston sratirication *r,"i,",i r"i.'|i, .'!l: ':* or bribery where 8. fo a ract an offence pLtnyl ", i i 'i" :i ? :., :::: ?: "!: :,:.i.., I o.t t p c. t h e n s t e d i e n t s "i, " ",, ", tuthlled l[ a percon gtves any gratiicaton ," "". ^^..^i i:" '" ?". tut exelcstng any electoral right or for having person as a reward for exerc,rll' !: ""':ou such amount from any inau"" uny puir"in-,;;.2;:i::;' an,v risht or inducns or attempts to nghls amounls to fuibery. ln the presenl case. *" alle?edly tound n the possessron ol rne petitioners Thp n^t;^^ ^^-) ro, porit,""r r"ri"::"i:;:rZ'.,j? that the satd amounts are meant e voters in the ensuing elections of December. 201a da^;tt^u,.. - was bribed or anv money was accepred o, ,no,",. t::chtse ;"; ;;"":;"i;2"1,J,,"'fl l!'*u or erercisins etectorat o.fence under section 121_B or tpc is not made out the question or prosecutins these petitioner;;; ,;;".;;;::'ie,nttv of btibery punishabte under Section 171.E of tpC does rr;;,;;",,," 'i".lo?' ii ,person "r"rr,,i'"*r"r!su,ch "r;;;;:,:he ' zoz31z1 ato 1crt.).l44JJ.s) ' tt t:; 4 Statr;, or'Andhra pradeshz, Tummala Rama Brahmam @ Rarn and another v. wherein it was held as_ ts,,:t ?harye J ttaving regard to a the a nd' t se;fio;';';B'i i."' 'irdbove-discusson s(' rar rs ihL' orrence musl 1e o' . b D,.vare ')-').)t1t as oftence affecrino):n.cer:ed (r . .; -. , u ,uroi ,",nil,Jn"o"::u'n^'-:r:,,,skation o ,in^ ,,u" " ,, t iaton ,r*, i' "iii,ir":f ", u" tr 6 sssn'l2;6t. 1( rp dod t ,t ,t oi sheer r(,r ,'s -dLet ,p a.d or coltntz,t tce oer se "rr*"*rZ.i'" r"liu 1,,)s.t .ta nabte. ;, ;;;;" ii" a i iec ,o ,,o"-"Jyi)n"Zi:f::",::;:::,,!^,!j, 1,t /-c m/ss/o4 "li--'-'o''n t- <4, ( grtzance in he non-cogn^able .urrl.!", ,i,,""!,, ,i-, :, ,;:,"0 ," 'l,)lt+ ':. hy the learned MJgistrate with . -,^^.^ .. " lour p"t'- ( ed /s per se unsustainabte ," oui"o,iu 11",, "*'r"r,iZrr"., I nnd leave about in the olher ma ct tho,^...- l:': " p' .-n : ion even for bar to the o,1ri"" io ;;;;;i;, :;r: ;, ):;l o* ,1,,',.'o' '" un ",:;l;::ii:: ,! -,"""o,;;';; ",",o' ) o' |!,'''),,,o, 1 71 -E or t or tPC ; s io rrs sLcker o, pdn,jhtt t )s the "1,, 6 "r,"r)lr)1"_'',on 2n et. )iion poster or ,r" )a.te , ty be tor what is discuss":; r}:f L:arned Assistant public Prosecutor, on rhe tther hand th e offences subm ttr::d ihat the petitioners have committe(l alleged itgr;rrnst them and hence, prayed to disrnjss the pelition, 7. A ce:rrrsal of the charge sheet discloses that the petitioners are pr.)sr_a()r11ed for the offences punishable under Ser:tions 1Bg and 171': ,,f rpc and section 123(1) ofRp Acr. rt rs nct the case that th,: flyrrg squad has caught hold of the petrtiorers while 1 ,he amount to the people, so as to indulge them for rnder section 171_E of lpC and secton R. P.Act and ll-rey only caught hold of them while accLrseo 6 are carrvip,y cash in a car, only under the assuml;tior the offenr::e distribulin g 123(1) of Nos.4 to that the t zot6(t) et.o i ,. ) -so-r - - -..#BU*M:K: ::-'1; ! 5 money is being distributed for electoral purposes to the public in general. [Vlere carrying of money does not amount to committing the offence or bribery to be punished as per section 17,l(E) of IpC \ or section 123(1) of R.p.Act. I I

8. Coming to the section 1Bg of lpC, as per section 1g5 of Cr.P.C.- No Court shall take cognizance- 1 . (t) of any offence punishable under secttons .172 to .1gg (both tnclustve) of the lndian Penat Code (45 of 1860), or (ii) of any abetment of, attempt to commit, such offence, or (iii) of any criminal consprracy to commit, such offence, Except on the complaint rn writing of the public servant concerned or of some other public servant to whom he is administratively subordinate; Wherein under Section 2(d) of the Code of Criminal procedure (Crpc), a "complaint" means an altegation made orally or ln writing to a Magisirate, ;ith the intention of initiating action under the Code, thaia person, known or unknown, has committed an oftense, but does not include a police report. Therefore. it must be a private complaint made by a public servant and mere reporting the matter before police station and filing a case is untenable. Hence, continuation of criminal proceedings against the petitioners rs. nothing but abuse of process of law. I ln view of the judgments cited above and submissions and for the reasons aforesaid, this Criminal petition is allowed and the proceedings against the petitioners/accused Nos.3 to 7 in C.C.No.820 of 2019 on the file of Vl Additional Judicial First Class Magistrate at Warangal are hereby quashed. U -TI!I-\, \l -" 1 lvlis,cr: l;rneous applications, if any pending. st all stand closed Sd/- N. SRIHARI DEPUTY REGISTRAR //TRUE COPY// iSiECT'ION OFFICER To,

1. The Vl Acd ',r.rriicial First Class Magistrate' i. rn" st"tiun Hct se officer, Matwada Police Station' Warangal' j. r"" CCr 10 '[rr(: Public Prosecutor High Court for the State of l elangana at a OilL-CC tr: liri A. Prabhakar Rao, Advocate [OPUC] 5. Two CD ()o'oiet, HyderabaC. O L. r-l ^a1 .Warangal SR/PSL l-.-' I : I HIGH COI.'RT DATED: l2(1t0312025 t t, I ...::= .4:.'. 'u 't \' E sr 6 (r, -) o C\ 2 1 ,ut'i 2025 -s \1t"..:,, \.-:-.. ORDER CRLP.NT:.692 of 2022 CRIMINI\I- PETITION IS ALLOWED 6\6 lpI