East Singhbhum at Jamshedpur v. The State of Jharkhand
Case Details
1 Cr.M.P. No.346 of 2024 IN THE HIGH COURT OF JHARKHAND AT RANCHI Cr.M.P. No. 346 of 2024 Suraj Saw @ Sonu, son of Sudarshan Saw, aged about 29 years, resident of 33, resident of H. No.27, J.P. Nagar, near Shitla Mata Mandir, Jamshedpur Agrico, P.O. + P.S.- Bhuiyandih, Dist.-East Singhbhum at Jamshedpur .... Petitioner Versus The State of Jharkhand …. Opp. Party P R E S E N T
Legal Reasoning
HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE ANIL KUMAR CHOUDHARY ….. For the Petitioner For the State : Mr. Pratik Sen, Advocate : Mr. Vishwanath Roy, Spl. P.P. ….. By the Court:- 1. 2. Heard the parties. This criminal miscellaneous petition has been filed invoking the jurisdiction of this Court under Section 482 Cr.P.C. with a prayer to quash the entire criminal proceeding including the First Information Report in connection with Sakchi P.S. Case No. 64 of 2022 involving the offence punishable under Sections 467, 468, 471, 420, 120B and 34 of Indian Penal Code qua the petitioner only. 3. The allegation is that the co-accused- mother-in-law- Lakhi Bhaina took a car worth Rs.11.44 lakh after getting finance from Omega Credit Information India Private Limited. The father-in-law of the petitioner namely Sahdeo Bhaina was the guarantor in the account. It is the case of the informant that upon being approached for finance 2 Cr.M.P. No.346 of 2024 by the co-accused- Smt. Lakhi Bhaina, the financial institution got credentials of the co-accused- Lakhi Bhaina verified by its own verifying agency and found that KYC, ITR, CIBIL and address was proper and after verification of the income tax, address, KYC, CIBIL; the informant-bank found the same to be in accordance with the yardstick of the informant-bank for releasing the loan of Rs.11.44 lakh and made the husband of Lakhi Bhaina the co-accused-Sahdeo Bhaina the guarantor in the account and the showroom of the vehicle delivered the vehicle to the co-accused- Lakhi Bhaina; on receiving the consideration amount of the said Scorpio vehicle from the said financer. The informant- financial institution approached the co- accused- Lakhi Bhaina for physical verification of the vehicle and the co-accused informed that the vehicle is with the petitioner. The informant informed the petitioner for physical verification of the vehicle. The petitioner promised to come for physical verification of the vehicle but later on, the petitioner switched off his mobile phone at 07:30 pm. Hence, the FIR was lodged against the co-accused- Lakhi Bhaina, Sahdeo Bhaina and the petitioner being the son-in- law. 4. 5. Though the FIR has been lodged on 02.04.2022, it is submitted that the investigation of the case is still going on and final form has not yet been submitted by police. It is submitted by the learned counsel for the petitioner that the only allegation against the petitioner is that the co-accused told the informant that the vehicle which was taken by her with the finance from the informant is in possession of the petitioner many days after such taking over the said vehicle by the co-accused and it is also the case of the prosecution that the petitioner is the son-in-law of the co- 3 Cr.M.P. No.346 of 2024 accused who has taken the vehicle with finance from the informant. The other allegation against the petitioner is that he promised to produce the vehicle for physical verification but did not do so. It is next submitted by the learned counsel for the petitioner that it is the admitted case of the informant that the informant sanctioned the loan to the co-accused- Lakhi Bhaina on verification of all her documents and finding her income tax, address, CIBIL and other documents being in accordance with the yardstick of the informant for release of such loan. It is further submitted by the learned counsel for the petitioner that there is no allegation against the petitioner of being anyway involved at the time of disbursement of loan or delivery of vehicle in question to the co-accused by the dealer nor there is any allegation against the petitioner of committing any forgery. It is then submitted by the learned counsel for the petitioner that at best the allegation against the co-accused is that the co- accused defaulted in repayment of the loan taken by them which is a civil dispute and unnecessarily a cloak of criminal dispute has been given to a civil dispute and the petitioner has been arrayed as an accused in the case only for wreaking vengeance; on the allegation that much after the delivery of the vehicle was taken by the co- accused, for some days the said vehicle was in the custody of the petitioner. Hence, it is submitted that the entire criminal proceeding including the First Information Report in connection with Sakchi P.S. Case No. 64 of 2022 be quashed and set aside; has even if the entire allegation made against petitioner are treated to be true, still no offence punishable in law is made out against the petitioner. 6. Learned Special Public Prosecutor on the other hand opposes the prayer for quashing the entire criminal proceeding including the 4 Cr.M.P. No.346 of 2024 First Information Report in connection with Sakchi P.S. Case No. 64 of 2022 and submits that the anticipatory bail application of the petitioner was rejected by a coordinate Bench of this Court after it was submitted that during course of investigation the name of the petitioner transpired as one of the master mind who is involved in similar type of offence and there are other cases of similar nature pending against him. Hence, it is submitted that this criminal miscellaneous petition being without any merit be dismissed. 7. Having heard the submissions made at the Bar and after going through the materials in the record, it is pertinent to mention here that it is a settled principle of law that pendency of some cases against a person is not a ground to quash the entire criminal proceeding against him if in that particular criminal proceeding sought to be quashed, there is no material to implicate him and such version has been implicated only for wreaking vengeance. 8. Now coming to the facts of the case, it is the admitted case of the informant that the vehicle in question was financed by the informant after being satisfied and verification of the documents furnished by the co-accused-Lakhi Bhaina. There is no allegation of presence of the petitioner at any time either when the co-accused approached the informant- financial institution for sanction of loan or delivery of the vehicle. The allegation of forgery and cheating relates to a period during which the co-accused was sanctioned loan and the vehicle was disbursed in her favour. There is no allegation of any offence committed thereafter. The only allegation against the petitioner is that the petitioner being the son-in-law was in possession of the vehicle which was financed by the informant. 5 Cr.M.P. No.346 of 2024 9. Considering the aforesaid facts, this Court is of the considered view that even if the said allegations against the petitioner is treated to be true in its entirety, still none of the offences punishable under Sections 467, 468, 471, 420, 120B and 34 of Indian Penal Code is made out against the petitioner. 10. 11. Though investigation of the case is going on since 02.04.2022, no material could be produced by the opposite party to even suggest any involvement of the petitioner in commission of any such offence. Under such circumstances, this Court is of the considered view that the continuation of the criminal proceeding against the petitioner will amount to abuse of process of law and this is a fit case where the entire criminal proceeding including the First Information Report in connection with Sakchi P.S. Case No. 64 of 2022 be quashed and set aside qua the petitioner only. 12. Accordingly, the entire criminal proceeding including the First Information Report in connection with Sakchi P.S. Case No. 64 of 2022 is quashed and set aside qua the petitioner only. 13.
Decision
In the result, this criminal miscellaneous petition is allowed. High Court of Jharkhand, Ranchi Dated the 13th March, 2024 AFR/Sonu-Gunjan/- (Anil Kumar Choudhary, J.)