Telangana State Police Through Sri v. Jagadeeshwar

2. Telangana State Police Through Sri V. Jagadeeshwar (ASl), R/o Chinnakodur Telangana Hyderabad. Police Station' Siddipet ...RES''NDENTS Petition under Section 528 of BNSS, 2023 praytng that in the circumstances stated in the Memorandum of Grounds of Cnminal Petition, the High Court may be pleased to Call for the records relating to the proceedings in C.C. No. 1934 of 2024 arising out of Crime No. 8412024 of Chinnakodur P.S. on the file of the ll Additional Junior Civil Judge-cum-Judicial lvlagistrate of First Class at Siddipet, for the alleged offences punishable under Section 420 of the lndian Penal Code (lPC) and Section 7(A) of the Essential Commodities Act, 1955, Quash the same in the rnterest of justice , l.A. NO: 1OF 2025 Petition under Section 528 of BNSS, 2023 praying that in the circumstances stated in the Memorandum of Grounds of Criminal Petition,the High Court may be pleased to Stay all further proceedings in C.C- No. 1934 of 2024 arising out of Crime No. 8412024 of Chinnakodur P.S. on the file of the ll Additional Junior Civil J udge-cum-J udicial Magistrate of First Class at Siddipet, for the alleged offences punishable under Section 420 of the lndian Penal Code (lPC) and Section 7(A) of the Essential Commodities Act, 1955 or any connected proceedings before the competent court,; This Petition coming on for hearing,upon perusing the Memorandum of Grounds of Criminal Petition and upon hearing the arguments of Sri KAVALI VISHNU KANTH, Advocate for the Petitioners 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 IN THE HIGH COURT FOR THE STATE OF TELT VGANA AT HYDERABAD THE HONOURABLE SRI JUSTICEJ' SREENIT AS RAO CRIMINAL PETITION No. 15818 of 2Ol2 i Da tez 16.12.2025 Between : Aitha Srinivas and tr,r'o others ... Petitioners/ Acc ;ed Nos l to 3' AND The State of Tclangana represented by its Public Prosecutor and another' . Rcspondents ORDER: This Criminal Petition has been hled seekirr , ro quash thc proceedings in C.C.No.1934 of 2024 arising out ol 2024 of Chinnakodur Police Station, on the hI.-' Junior Civil Judge cum-Judicial Magistrate of Firs' wherein petitioners \lrere arrayed as accused No:; offences punishable under Section 42O of the Inil 1860 (for short 'lPC) and Section 7 of tlne Essenr I rirlre No.84 of r1' II Aclditional l lass, SiddiPet, L to 3, for the rn Pcnal Code, ,r[ (]ommodities Act, 1955 (for short'EC ActJ

2. Heard Mr. K.Vishnu Kanth, learned ( ( petitioncrs and Mr. Jtthender Bae Vsslamall2' lr: i*. Public Prosecutor, appearing on behalf of responcJt'-: unscl for the rned Adrlitional Nos.I and 2 I I I i I I I ! i I a 2

3. The spccilic allegation against the petitior-rers/ accused Nos.1 to 3 is that they have procurecl PDS rice from the beneficiaries at cheaper rate to sell the same for profit and on

11.O4.2024 Ert about 11:45 hours, [hc petilioncrs \\rere found in possession of 135 bags of PDS rice rotatting QuinLals 70.20 Kgs.

4. Learned counsel for the petrtioners u,ould submit that r.r,,ithout there being any r:omplaint from any benefir:iary, alleging that the rice was procured deceptively or with ir crimin:ll inlent and charging the petitioners for prosecution is untenablc and impropcr. The allegations, even taken at their face valuc cannot be sustained against the petitioners. Further, this Court, in Cr1.P_Nos.57O9 of 2Ol9 and 3349 of 2O 15, while considering the same situation, categorically observed that the oflences alleged against the petitioners therein could not be continuecl ztnd accordingly quashed the proceedings- The petitioners are also entitled to the same relief and hence prayed Lo quash the proceedings against the petitioners.

5. The learned Additional Public Prosecutor submits that as per prosecution, the offences said to have been committed by the petitioners is cheating and violation of Section 7 of the EC Act and requested to pass appropriate orders.

6. Section 7 of the EC Act contemplate that any person contravenes with the production, supply, distribution and trade of essential commodities, is punishable. As per the prosecution, the J petitioners have procured PDS rice from ffi6 bcrl ficiancs after suppl]- lrom the dcaler. 7 . A Coordtnatc Rench of this Court in Crl.P.N,r 7227 ot 2O2c has considcrcd lirc idcntical facts and observed thal: 'There is no at,erment indicating that the peliliott in cLng utay deceptiuely induced the beneficiaies to pdrt uith l.L,e supplied PDS ice or the beneftciary entrusted the PDS rice purchas,t I bA them utith the petitioner and they dishonestlg misappropiatecl ' r con.uetlecT tct their otun use or ttsed it in uiolation of a lauful dirt:tt on or con.troct. In tLrc obsence of essentiol foctors, on tlte foce of 1t csectLtior\ this Court ftnds it to be a fit case to exercise the jurisdictir r under Section 528 of BNSS, 2023. Thus, continuonce of proceedin 7s agatnst the petitioner is abuse of process of Latt".

8. The facts and circumstances of the present c I ;r: also sirrrilar to those in the above case and hence, this Court f.r r s it to bi: a fit case to exercise jurisdiction under Section 528 of Bltr )S by applying the same analogy and to quash the proceedin: ; against lhe petitioners herein.

9. Accordingll , the Criminal Petition is alI r ved and the proceedings in C.C.No.1934 of 2024 arising out of ( 2024 of Chinnakodur Police Station, on the frle --' .rirne No.84 of ' II Additional Junior Civil Judge-cum Judicial Magistrate of First ( iass, Siddipet, againsl the petilioners/ accused Nos.1 to 3, are herc)r quashed. 4 ') Miscellaneous applications; pending if any, sha11 stand closed sD/- S.GOWRI SHANKAR ISTANT REGISTRAR //TRUE COPY' ECTION OFFICER To,

1. The ll Addl. Junior Civil Judge -cum- Judicial Firsi Cl 2. The Station House Officer, Chinnakodur P.S., Siddipet District 3. One CC to SRl. KAVALI VISHNU KANTH Advocale [OPUC] 4 Two CCs to PUBLIC PROSECUTOR, High Court at Hyderabad (OUT) 5. Two CD Copies s Magistrate, Siddipet V SM/PSL Nl HIGH COURT DATED:1 611212025 --., :.\ .c sjr,,..\ .

1..'..\,\ jltI0mt i,t ORDER CRLP.No.16818 of 2025 ALLOWING THE CRIMINAL PETITION 1 \'t/ v\