Court No. - 40
Case :- CRIMINAL MISC. WRIT PETITION No. - 2717 of 2021 Petitioner :- Daud Dahanga Respondent :- State Of U.P. And 2 Others Counsel for Petitioner :- Uma Nath Pandey Counsel for Respondent :- G.A.
Hon'ble Manoj Misra,J.
Hon'ble Rohit Ranjan Agarwal,J.
Heard learned counsel for the petitioner; the learned A.G.A. for the respondents 1 and 2; and perused the record.
The instant petition seeks quashing of the first information report dated 08.11.2020 registered as Case Crime No. 573 of 2020 at P.S. Kaushambi, District- Ghaziabad, under Sections 420, 467, 471 I.P.C.
The impugned first information report has been lodged by an officer of Cooperative Bank disclosing that on 31.01.2018; 04.01.2019; and 07.02.2019, pursuant to loan agreement, Rs. 35,000,00/-, 27,000,00/-, and 7,000,00/- were sanctioned and disbursed in favour of co-accused Shailesh Kumar Singh against security of a property. The said loan account turned NPA. When investigation was carried out to proceed against the secured asset it was found that secured asset had already been disposed off by the borrower on 11.02.2009. By alleging that the borrower in collusion with the then Chief Manager (the petitioner herein) had duped the bank, the impugned first information report has been lodged.
Learned counsel for the petitioner submitted that before accepting a security, for loan, there is a verification exercise carried out and if the verification exercise is subsequently found insufficient, responsibility cannot be fastened on the Manager who sanctioned the loan.
As to whether there had been collusion between borrower and the bank official and whether the verification exercise was tainted are questions of fact which would have to be determined on the basis of material collected during the course of investigation. Hence, since the impugned first information report discloses commission of cognizable offence, the matter would have to be investigated and therefore the prayer to quash the first information report cannot be accepted.
The petition is dismissed without prejudice to the right of the petitioner to apply for bail or anticipatory bail, as may be advised.
Order Date :- 7.4.2021 Sunil Kr Tiwari