Court No. - 65
Case :- CRIMINAL MISC. WRIT PETITION No. - 1758 of 2019 Petitioner :- Anil Wadhwa And 2 Others Respondent :- State Of U.P. And 2 Others Counsel for Petitioner :- Syed Ali Imam Counsel for Respondent :- G.A.
Hon'ble Karuna Nand Bajpayee,J. Hon'ble Ifaqat Ali Khan,J.
This writ petition has been filed seeking the quashing of F.I.R. dated 2.01.2019 registered as Case Crime No.04 of 2019, under Sections 420, 467, 468, 471, 406, 323, 504, 506 I.P.C., P.S.-
Sector 24, NOIDA, District- Gautam Budh Nagar. Heard petitioners' counsel and learned AGA. Entire record has been perused.
It has been submitted by learned counsel for the petitioners that the petitioners have neither persuaded the first informant to purchase any land nor they had played any role in execution of sale deeds. Further contention is that no offence is made out against the petitioners as the respondent no.3/ first informant had himself purchased the lands in question. Other contentions have also been raised by the petitioners counsel which relate to disputed questions of fact. The court has also been called upon to adjudge the worth of prosecution allegations and evaluate the same on the basis of various intricacies of factual details which have been touched upon by the learned counsel. The veracity and credibility of indictment has been questioned, absence of material which may substantiate the allegations has been contended and false implication has been pleaded.
The law regarding sufficiency of grounds which may justify quashing of F.I.R. in a given case is well settled. The court has to eschew itself from embarking upon a roving enquiry into the last details of the case. It is also not advisable to adjudge whether the case shall ultimately end in submission of charge sheet and then eventually in conviction or not. Only a prima facie satisfaction of the court about the existence of sufficient ingredients constituting the offence is required in order to see whether the F.I.R. requires to be investigated or deserves quashing. The ambit of investigation into the alleged offence is an independent area of operation and does not call for interference in the same except in rarest of rare cases. The view taken in the case of Satyapal vs. State of U.P. and others, 2000 Cr.L.J. 569 which was further confirmed by another Full Bench of this Court in the case of Ajit Singh @ Muraha v. State of
U.P. and others (2006 (56) ACC 433) makes the position of law in this regard clear and this Court does not find it advisable to whittle down the power or scope of investigation in the given case. The operational liberty to collect sufficient material, if there exists any, cannot be scuttled prematurely by any uncalled for overstepping of the Court. It has to be an extremely discreet exercise.
The Apex Court decisions given in the case of R.P. Kapur Vs. State of Punjab AIR 1960 SC 866 and in the case of State of Haryana Vs. Bhajan Lal 1992 SCC(Cr.) 426 have also recognized certain categories by way of illustration which may justify the quashing of a complaint or charge sheet and the same may also be good grounds to quash the F.I.R. Some of them are akin to the illustrative examples given in the case of Smt. Nagawwa Vs. Veeranna Shivalingappa Konjalgi 1976 3 SCC 736. The cases where the allegations made against the accused in the F.I.R. or the evidence collected by the Investigating Officer do not constitute any offence or where the allegations are absurd or extremely improbable or impossible to believe or where prosecution is legally barred or where criminal proceeding is malicious and malafide instituted only with ulterior motive or grudge and vengeance alone, may be illustratively the fit cases for the High Court in which the F.I.R. or the criminal proceedings may be quashed. If a particular case falls in some such categories as recognized by the Apex Court in Bhajan Lal's case, it may justify the interference by this Court in exercise of its inherent power as provided in Code of Criminal Procedure or in exercise of its powers vested by the Constitution of India.
Illumined by the case law referred to herein above, this Court has adverted to the entire record of the case.
It has been mentioned in the F.I.R. that the petitioners and the respondent no.3/ first informant were on good terms and they had misrepresented before the respondent no.3 that the lands situated in village Dehara of district Hapur and in village Atai, Muradpur and Amarpur of district Gautam Budh Nagar had been acquired by the Hapur Authority and Greater NOIDA Authority respectively. It has been further mentioned in the F.I.R. that on 15.4.2017 all the petitioners came to the house of the respondent no.3 and had shown him the notification allegedly issued by Hapur and Gautam Budh Nagar Authority in which it was mentioned that the lands of the aforesaid villages namely Atai, Muradpur and Amarpur had already been acquired by the authorities concerned. However, copy of the notification was not given by the petitioners to the respondent no.3. Keeping reliance upon the papers shown by the petitioners the respondent no.3 purchased few lands in the aforesaid villages and consideration for the said lands was duly paid by cheques/ RTGES. While executing the sale deed of the land situated in village Dehra of district Hapur, the petitioners had taken Rs. 2 crores 20 lakhs from the respondent no. 3 on different dates. However, when the respondent no.3 again demanded the notification regarding acquisition of the lands of the aforesaid villages they again refused but later on had given some papers and stated that the papers were related to the acquisition of the land for the aforesaid villages. When the respondent no.3 enquired the matter from the concerned authorities and tried to get the authenticity of those papers then only he came to know that the lands situated in village Atari Muradpur and Amarpur of district Gautam Budh Nagar and village Dehara of district Hapur was never acquired by the concerned authorities. It has been mentioned in the F.I.R. that the petitioners got him purchased lands in the aforesaid villages by wrongly informing him that the lands had already been acquired by the authorities concerned and had even shown him fake papers. The petitioners had already taken Rs. 2 crores 20 lakhs cash from the respondent no.3 and the same was never returned by them despite persistent demand by the respondent no.3. Later on the petitioners had even abused him and had threatened him for life. The submissions made by the petitioners' learned counsel call for determination on pure questions of fact which may be adequately discerned either through proper investigation or which may be adjudicated upon only by the trial court and even the submissions made on points of law can also be more appropriately gone into only by the trial court in case a charge sheet is submitted in this case. This Court does not deem it proper, and therefore cannot be persuaded to have a pre-trial before the actual trial begins. This Court also does not deem it proper to suffocate or trammel the ambit and scope of independent investigation into the case. A threadbare discussion of various facts and circumstances, as they emerge from the allegations made against the accused, is being purposely avoided by the Court for the reason, lest the same might cause any prejudice to either side during investigation or trial. But it shall suffice to observe that the perusal of the F.I.R. makes out prima facie offences at this stage and there appear to be sufficient ground for investigation in the case. We do not find any justification to quash the F.I.R. or the proceedings against the accused arising out of it as the case does not fall in any of the categories recognized by the Apex Court which may justify their quashing.
The prayer for quashing the same is refused as we do not see any breach of constitutional provisions or any abuse of the process of law.
However, in view of the peculiar facts and circumstances of the case, it is directed that in case after surrendering in the court below an application for bail is moved on behalf of the accused within ten days from today, the same shall be considered and decided in accordance with law.
In the aforesaid period or till the date of appearance of the accused in the court below, whichever is earlier, no coercive measures like arrest shall be taken or given effect to.
It is further clarified that this order has been passed only with regard to the accused on behalf of whom this writ petition has been moved in this Court.
With the aforesaid observations, this writ petition is finally disposed off.
Order Date :- 22.1.2019/ shiv