RAJENDRA RAMCHANDRA KAVALEKAR Vs. STATE OF MAHARASHTRA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Leave is granted.

(2.) This appeal is directed against the judgment and order passed by the High Court of Judicature at Bombay in Criminal Writ Petition No. 1375 of 2006 dated July 5, 2006. By the impugned order, the High Court has rejected the writ petition, however, has directed the respondent therein, not to arrest the appellant for a period of six weeks, in R.C. Case No. 1(A).2004 registered under Sections 120(b), 420, 467, 468 and 471 of the Indian Penal Code and Section 13(2) read with Section 13(1)(d) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, pending on the file of the Special Judge (C.B.I.), Ranchi, Jharkhand, to facilitate the appellant to move the appropriate court for appropriate relief. It may be useful to extract the reasoning, conclusion and the directions issued by the court to appreciate the issues canvassed by the appellant. It is as under:

(3.) In the Criminal Writ Petition filed before the High Court of Judicature at Bombay, the appellant apart from others, had asserted that he is the accused No. 1 in the case registered by C.B.I., SPE, Ranchi in the State of Jharkhand for the offences under Sections 120(b), 420, 467, 468, 471 of IPC and Sections 13(2) read with Section 13(1)(d) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988. The State of Maharashtra which is arrayed as Respondent No. 1 in the petition, through RCF Police Station, Kurla, has registered a case bearing Crime No. 250 of 1999 dated 14th October, 1999 under Sections 420, 461, 465, 468, 471, 473, 476 and 120(b) of IPC and tried as CC No. 855/P/2000 before the Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, 11th Court, Kurla, Mumbai, wherein the role of Kanhayalal Sharma and his son Prakash Kanhayalal Sharma is being investigated for having issued bogus and false Degree certificates to large number of students purportedly from Ranchi and Pune Universities. It is also stated that with the help of the degree certificate and the provisional certificate issued by the Ranchi University, he had joined India Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC for short) as Cashier-cum-Sales Assistant by producing the aforesaid certificate issued for the academic year 1993-94 and it is also stated that until he was issued with suspension order by the employer viz. ITDC, he was not aware, that, the certificate issued by the Ranchi University was bogus/fake/fabricated. The appellamt has further stated that he has never been to the State of Jharkhand or to Ranchi for the purpose of appearing in the examination for the academic year 1993-94. It is further asserted that Kanhayalal Sharma who is the main accused in the case registered by RCF Police Station, Kurla, had opened an educational institution known as 'Marudhar Mahavidyalaya operated both from Pune and Mumbai cities and the said institution has issued forged/bogus/false certificates of the Ranchi University. It has also stated that he had applied for anticipatory bail before the Special Judge, CBI, Ranchi and by an order dated 22nd November, 2005, the learned Judge had rejected the anticipatory bail on the ground that appellant was not one of those appellants who had approached the High Court of Judicature at Bombay in the Writ Petition No. 71 of 2001 and connected matters. It is further stated, that, he had approached the High Court of Jharkhand for grant of anticipatory bail and it was also rejected. It is further assertion of the appellant that there is no reason for CBI, SPE, Ranchi to launch a case against the appellant in the year 2004, of a case where inquiry had already been initiated by RCF Police Station for the very same offence and the matter is already pending before the Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, Kurla, Mumbai. Lastly, it is stated that the CBI, SPE, Ranchi has no jurisdiction to register a case against the appellant, since the entire cause of action had arisen in the State of Maharashtra and not in Ranchi and by registering a case at Ranchi by the CBI, SPE, Ranchi, have abused the process of law and it has no locus standi to file a complaint against the appellant in respect of the offences mentioned in the charge sheet in which the appellant is a victim by himself. Accordingly, he has sought for the following reliefs :