SECTION OFFICER v. Wanaparthy District

This Petition coming on for hearing,upon perusing the Memorandum of Grounds of Criminal Petition and upon hearing the arguments of Sri K RATHANGA PANI REDDY ,Advocate for the Petitioner and Sri Jithender Rao Veeramalla, Addl. Public Prosecutor on behalf of the Respondent No. '1 and none appear for the Respondent No.2; The Court made the following: ORDER I I THE HONOURABLE SRI JUSTICE N.TUKARAIVIJI rlRlMlNAL PETITION No.4654 OF 2025 ORDER This Criminal Petition is filed under Section S2B of Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (for short 'BNSS, 2023') seeking quashment of the proceedings in Crime No.85 of 2O2S of Kothakota Police Station, Wanaparthy District, against the petitioner.

2. The petitioner is sole accused in Crime No.85 of 2025 registered I for the offences punishabte under Sections 316 (2), 316(5), 318(4) of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhit a,2023 (for short 'BNS, 2023') and Section 7 of Essential Commodities Act,'1955 (for shoi-t, 'EC Act').

3. Heard tt4r K.Rathanga Pani Reddy, learned counsel for the petitioner and Mr.Jithender Rao Veeramalla, learned Additional public Prosecutor, representing the respondent No.'1-State,

4. The prosecuiicn case in brief is that the petitioner is the Proprietor of Rice Mill under the name and style of ,M/s. Ramakrishna Traders, Kothakota Village and Mandal, Wanaparthy District, and engaged in the business of milling of paddy. The Telangana State Civil Supplies Corporation Limited (for short, 'TGSCSCL') entered into agreement with the petitioner's firm for procuring and milling of paddy and to deliver back the custom milling rice lt is alreged that the \ t ': 2 Lrl.P.No.16i'l ol 2025 TGSCSCL Department had conducted inspection in the petitioner's rice mill on 23.03.2025 and found 1,853 733 MTs of paddy missing for the seasons of Kharif 2021-22' Rabi 2021-22 and Kharif 2022-23' Thus' a Police Report was lodged against the petitioner for misappropriation of stocks and violation of the agreement and for recovpry of the amounts'

5. Learned counsel for the petitioner would submit that as per the agreement, the de facto complainant and petitioner would be in joint custody of the paddy. Further pleaded that the Government did not properly store the paddy and for natural reasons some of the quantity was 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 conclusive findings on relevant aspects prosecution without anY alleging criminality is untenable' That apart' the petitioner is ready to cooperate with the investigation and is intending to see the process through. He further pointed out that the coordinate Bench of this Court vrde Criminal Petition Nos'1574, 1575 ot 2025' 8gS and 12037 of 2024 held that Section 316(5) of BNS' 2023 would not attract in the circumstances of the case and directed the investigating agency for issuance of 35(3) of BNSS, 2023 notice and to follow the guidelines It I I 3 NIR:I Cr/.1'.N0.1654 of 2025 enunciated in Arnesh Kumar y. Sfafe of Biharl . Thus pleaded for granting similar relief to meet their hardship.

6. Learned Additional Public Prosecutor would submit that it is a clear case of misappropriation, the petitioner and similarly placed other rice millers have caused loss of crores of rupees to the State and by the direction of issuance of notice, it is becoming difficult in proceeding with the investigation for want of co-operation from the petitioner. That apart, a Coordinate Bench of this Court in Crl.p.Nos.3g33 of 2024, I 3305 of 2024 3306 ot 2024, having considered the submissions dismissed the criminal petitions, The petitioner herein is also facing self same accusations. therefore, pending investigation proceedings, this petition has to be dismissed. Further submits that, if the Court considers otherwise, directing the petitioner for depositing considerable amount against the complaint mentioned loss.

7. I have perused the materials on record B. Admittedly, the petitioner is a rice miller and running an industry under the name and styre of 'M/s.Ramakrishna Traders'. rt is crear by the averments of the complaint that TGSCSCL Department had entered into agreement with the petitioner for carrying out milling of paddy. \ ' 1201+y e scc zz: I 4 (..rl.P.No. 1651 ol 202 Further, in the complaint, the misappropriation has been alleged. Whereas the petitioner's plea of joint custody and the defences like natural decay, loss due to improper stocking of the materials are to be examined in the investigation. ln such position, any direction to furnish security would be premature.

9. Further, having regard to the nature of the offences and depth of allegations against the petitioner and except the alleged offence under Section 316(5) of BNS, 2023, rest of the accusations are punishable with an imprisonment upto seven years and considering the fact that the petitioner is running rice mill industry and the Government's contract is disclosing petitioner's well rooted place in the society and the aspects that the prosecution has not raised any impediment in securing the presence of the petitioner for investigation and the readiness of the petitioner to cooperate with the investigation, without entering into merits and keeping all prerogatives of the investigation open and to maintain parity, directing the lnvestigating Agency for issuance of Section 35(3) of BNSS, 2023 notice on the petitioner in Crime No.54 of 2025 and to adhere the guidelines of Arnesh Kumar v' Stafe of Bihal before proceeding against the petitioner, is found appropriate. Accordingly, ordered. ln unison, the petitioner is directed to submit ' lzor+1 a scc zz: I I I I 5 N.r&/ Crl-P.,\'0. 4654 oJ 202 5 explanation and materials, if any, and shall cooperate with the investigation

10. With this direction, this Criminal Petition is disposed of' Pending miscellaneous applications, if any, shall stand closed' SiD/- N. SRI HARI D PUTY REGISTRAR //TRUE COPY// 7 I SECTION OFFICER l To, VS

1. The Judicial First Class Magistrate, Atmakur Z. fn" Stution House Officer, kothakota P S ' 5. o"; cc to SRI K RATHANGA PANI REDDY Advocate [oPUC] ^. .-. ;. i;;6c.ioFuaLrc pniisrturon, High court at Hvderabad (oUT) 5. Two CD CoPies N4/ Wanaparthy District I k$. )=- --{d HIGH COURT DATED:2210412025 I I i I I I c o ? + Air iils z -r> * ol.'.'r,, - - ORDER CRLP.No.4654 ot 2025 DISPOSING OF THE CRIMINAL PETITION @ 2\ nl^r