SALEEM Vs. STATE OF KERALA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE prayer of the petitioner, who is the 1st accused in Crime No. 164/99 of the Valiyathura Police Station, subsequently renumbered as Crime No. 234/cr/99/cb CID, SIG-I, is to quash the said proceeding. THE case was registered based on a complaint which was forwarded for investigation under S. 156 (3) of the Code of Criminal Procedure by the Chief Judicial Magistrate's Court, Thiruvananthapuram. At the time, the offences under S. 195, 196, 201, 211 and 307 of Indian Penal Code had been alleged against the accused. It is stated that subsequently, as per a report filed by the investigating officer, the offence under S. 21 of the NDPS Act is also included in the charge.

(2.) SRI. K. Ramakumar, who appeared for the petitioner submitted that the proceedings before the Chief Judicial Magistrate's Court, Thiruvananthapuram , are not maintainable and that the Court went wrong in directing investigation when the offences alleged against the petitioner, included those under S. 195, 196 and 211 of the IPC in respect of which cognizance is possible only on complaint made by the Court concerned. It is also argued that the attempt of the complainant is to subvert the proceedings pending before the Special Court for NDPS Act Cases, Bangalore, in which Navaz Khan, who is the present complainant, is the 1st accused. Yet another argument is that the investigating officer in the present case cannot sit in judgment over the justifiability of the prosecution proceedings initiated by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence, who initiated the prosecution pending before the Bangalore Court.

(3.) DURING hearing today, it was brought to my notice that Navas Khan, who failed in his attempt to get the proceedings in the Bangalore case quashed under S. 482 of the Cr. P. C. , filed Crl. M. P. No. 5716/2000 before the Hon'ble Supreme Court along with S. L. P. No. 2958/2000 and the Hon'ble Supreme Court passed an order dated 18. 9. 2000 directing release of Navaz Khan on bail as per the following order: " Petitioner shall appear before the learned Special Judge and apply for bail and on such application being made, he shall be released on bail on furnishing of two sureties of Rs. 20,000/- each".