MAUSUMI BHATTACHARJEE Vs. STATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner is facing proceedings in a criminal case arising out of FIR No. 41/2000 of police station Punjabi Bagh involving offences punishable under Sections 406/420/120 B of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (IPC) registered on the basis of charge-sheet which was submitted upon conclusion of investigation. The case is at the stage of consideration of charge. She had moved an application under Section 91 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (Cr.P.C) seeking direction to the investigating agency to bring on record certain documents which she claimed had been seized from her possession, her contention, inter alia, being that she had resigned from the Ram Charitable Trust, Jaipur in whose name certain memorandum of undertaking (MOU) had been entered upon by the complainant with one Anand Prakash Khandelwal later on 01.11.1994. The investigating agency submitted a reply upon consideration of which the Metropolitan Magistrate made certain further inquiries in the course of which Mr. Ajit Singh, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) submitted a report dated 01.12.2014. According to the said report, the notice under Section 91 Cr.P.C. pursuant to which documents had been handed over, had been issued by the then investigating officer Inspector Virender Singh. ACP Ajit Singh thus informed the Metropolitan Magistrate that it is the said investigating officer who would have to submit a reply in such regard. The Metropolitan Magistrate did not hold any further inquiry and, instead, by order dated 21.09.2015, rejected the prayer of the petitioner on the grounds that there was no plausible explanation offered as to why the request to above effect had been moved thirteen years after the documents had been handed over.

(2.) Aggrieved by the short-shrifting of her prayer, the present petition has been filed under Article 227 of the Constitution of India read with Section 482 Cr.P.C. for necessary directions.

(3.) The State, in answer to the petition at hand, has submitted a reply dated 08.09.2016 under the signatures of the ACP Vikram Singh Rana. In the said reply, it takes a position that inquiries have been made in the course of which Inspector Virender Singh, the then Investigating Officer, has testified that no such documents were handed over to him by the petitioner and only certain photocopies were made available and seized vide memo dated 02.05.2001. The documents thus seized pertain to income-tax return of the petitioner for the assessment year 1995-96, auditor's report with balance-sheet as on 31.01995 and copy of the bank statement of account no. SB-8457 of Vijay Bank, Bhikhaji Cama Place.