(1.) Leave granted.
(2.) The appellant approached this Court aggrieved by the denial of protection under Section 438 Cr.P.C. The appellant is an accused in Crime No.123 of 2016 registered at Police Station Vidhan Sabha, Raipur, Chhattisgarh for offences punishable under Section 420 and 409 of the IPC read with Sections 3 and 7 of the Essential Commodities Act. The crux of the accusation is that the appellant who was running a rice mill did not return the required quantity of rice after custom milling. The deficit, according to the Investigating Officer, is to the tune of Rs.2,71,34,937/-. When the matter came be before this Court, on 25.01.2017, this Court passed the following order:-
(3.) The appellant has since reported that he could not raise that much amount of money. On that submission, this Court directed the State to attach the immovable properties of the appellant and put them to sale. Learned counsel appearing for the State submits that despite several attempts, the sale could not fructify.