Court No. - 40
Case :- CRIMINAL MISC. WRIT PETITION No. - 2799 of 2021 Petitioner :- Girish Varshney Respondent :- State Of U.P. And 2 Others Counsel for Petitioner :- Vishal Agarwal Counsel for Respondent :- G.A.
Hon'ble Manoj Misra,J.
Hon'ble Rohit Ranjan Agarwal,J.
Heard learned counsel for the petitioner; 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 11.03.2021 registered as Case Crime No.2103 of 2021, under Section 135 of the Electricity Act, P.S. Anti Power Theft Hathras, District Hathras.
The allegation in the impugned first information report is that upon receipt of information with regard to electricity theft at a rice mill, upon inspection of rice mill, it was found that there was illegal abstraction of electricity with the use of a "Katiya". An employee by the name Shyam Singh found there told that though the rice mill is of Mukesh Chauhan (who is currently in jail) but it is being managed and run by Girish Varshney (the petitioner).
The learned counsel for the petitioner has submitted that as, admittedly, the rice mill is of Mukesh Chauhan only on the basis of information received that the petitioner is running the rice mill, he cannot be implicated.
It is well settled that where commission of a cognizable offence is reported, investigation ensues. It is on the basis of material collected during the course of investigation that the culpability of a person is ascertained to put him on trial. Mere naming an accused in the FIR does not mean that he is guilty. But since an illegal abstraction of electricity has been found, the prayer of the petitioner 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/anticipatory bail or compounding of the offence, as may be advised.
Order Date :- 5.4.2021 AKShukla/-