High Court · 2025

The State of Telangana, Rep by (s Public Prose-cutor' Through P S' Pebbair' wr"Iirniv oi.in"f ulgn iti"t Lt state of relangana.' Hvderabad ' The Station House OfRcer, in'"lgh p S Pebbarr'-Wanaparthy District' The District Manaser, Tdd;;i'li;"maqa9' office at S No'25' X Roads' I it l*a'S3; +7;l?;"tf 3-%% M p LA r N AN r r.r "L Petition under Section 528 of B N'S'S: qtuYino that in the circumstances the High Court may stated in the Memorand'#'"t et'"Jt ot q'inli"1 .p"etition' or 2024 dated 31-12-2024 be Dleased to call for tn"'J#IoJin'in" rrn Nq ?13 on th" file of the Police b;;il; ;;;;" Hural' Nizambad District against the Petitioner and quash the same- I.A. NO:2OF 2025 Petition under Section 528 of B N'S S ltql.it the circumstances stated in the Memorandum of G';:;;;"";'Cii*in'r Petition' the Hish Court mav be arrest of the Petitioner tn oteased to stay ail turtnei"p["c"]'oiig. in"rroing .the 31'12'2024 on the rile or the ieration to crime vioe Fti i;":;;';i Police Station Bodhan n"'fl Ni"t'U'd Di=ttitt pending disposal of the above Criminal Petition 9?6d 'zo2-1 This Petition coming on for hearing' upon perusing the Memorandum of Grounds of Criminal Petitln and upon hearing the arguments of Mr' Pasham Mohith, Advocate for the Petitioner and the Mr' Jithender Rao Veeramalla' AdditionalPublicProsecutoronbehalfoftheRespondentsNo'1&2andNone Appeared for the ResPondent No 3' - The Court made the following: ORDER TI-IE HONOURABLE SRI JUSTTCE N.TUKARAMJI CRIMINAL PETITION No.4051 0F 2025 ORDER Thil; Criminal petition is filed under Section 52g of Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (for short ,BNSS, 2023') seeking quashment of the proceedings in Crime llo 343 of 2024 ot Bodhan Rural, police Station, Nizamabad District, against the petition er 2 The petitioner is accused No.1 in Crime No.343 of .2024 for the offences punishable under Sections 316 111 r/w 3(5) of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhit a, 2t)23 (for 2023') and Section 7 of Essential Commodities registered (5),318(4), short 'BNS Act,). Act,'1955 (fo r. short, ,EC 3. Heard Mr. pasham Mohith, learned counsel for the petitioner and Mr.Jithender Rao Veeramalla, learned Adriitional Public Proser:utor appssrl., for the respondent Nos.1 and Il. 4. The prosecution case in brief is that the petitioner is the Proprietor of Ricr: tvlill under the name and style ,M/s M/s. Sri Lakshmi Modern rRice lr4i* and engaged in the business of rniring of paddy. The Telangana State Civil Supplies Corporation L mited . (lo_r short, 'TSCSCL,) entered into agreement with the petitioner,s NIR. )RLP,4051 -20?s firm for procuring and milling of paddy and to deliver back the custom milling rice. Accordingly for the Kharif and Rabi seasons 2021-2022, the paddy of 16'15 MT was delivered and on inspection dated 31 .12-2024, found that 453 MT of paddy was missing. Thus, a police report was lodged against the petitioner for misappropriation of stocks and violation of the agreement and for recovery of the amounts. 5. Learned counsel for the petitioner would submit that as per the agreement the de facfo complainant and petitioner would' be in joint custody of the paddy' Further pleaded that the Government did not properly stored the paddy and for natural reasons some of the quantity was got damaged' Howsoever' as per the agreement the dispute has to be placed before the Arbitrator and without such an effort the Government on its own concluding misappropriation and initiating the prosecution without there being any finding as to the relevant aspects and the actual loss and merely on difference in stock alleging complicity is implausible. That apart, the petitioner is ready to cooperate with the investigation and is intending to see through the process and prepared to comply with the process' He further pointed out that the coordinate bench of this Court vide Criminal Petition 3 NTR, :)RLP 4051 2025 Nos.'1572., 1ti75 of 2025, 895 and 12037 of 2024 observed that the Secti rn 316(5) of BNS, 2023 would not attract and directed the investigating agency for issuance of 35(3) of BNSS, 2023 . notice anrj to foilow the guidelines enunciated in Arnesh Kumar y. Sfafe af Biltarl . Thus pleaded that granting similar relief would meet their harrlship. 6' Lea.ned Additional pubric prosecutor would submit that the investigati,n rs in progress and fairly admits that excegrt for the difference n the stock found on the inspection, the other aspects are under nvestigation and also accepted that this Court in the petition file'J by the accused with serf same aflegations incruding criminal brerach of trust had directed the investigating agency to follow the procedure contemplated under Section 35(3) o1, BNSS, 2023 I have perused the materials on record.

7. 8. Havinr] re,Jard to the nature of the offences and depth of allegations ergainst the petitioner and except the alleged <tffence under Section 3i6(5) of BNS,2023, rest of the offenc,es are ',vith the rmpflsonment of less than seven years, punishable without enterin g into merits and k '' lzot+18 scc 2;,3 eeping open the prerogatives of 4 NIR, )RLP-4051-2025 I the investigating agency and to maintain parity' directing the investing agency for issuance of Section 35(3) of BNSS' 2023 notice on the petitioner and to folrow the guiderines of Arnesh Kumar v. Stafe of Bihaf before proceeding against the petitioner is found appropriate' Accordingly ordered' ln unison the petitioner is directed to submit his explanation and shall cooperate with the investigation' 9. With this direction' this Criminal Petition is disposed of Pending miscellaneous applications' if any' shall closed. ,':"',i-+iH3't+ SAD R ,rTRuE coPY'/ sEcTtoN oFFlcER To,

1. L. J. 4 5 iq#1il";{$;; **;-;' {:^:,: Two CD CoPies r'r':* ?18*':* " kami I'SL w ? (2Or4)8SCC773 HIGH COURT DATED:26ilr3tZO2S ORDER CRLP.No.40Sl of 2025 oF IHE s14 /( ( 3, g, APi ?rzj (1( a, * r,4TCrrEO. DISPOSING OF: THE CRITilINAL PETITION grd'a &