RAMESH CHANDRA PANDA Vs. STATE OF ODISHA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is an application filed under Sec. 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (for short 'Cr.P.C.') seeking for quashing of the order dtd. 25/9/2010 passed by the learned S.D.J.M., Nabarangpur in I.C.C. No.23 of 1992, vide which a petition filed by the present petitioner to recall the order of cognizance dtd. 30/7/1993 passed in I.C.C. No.23 of 1992 was rejected.

(2.) Heard the learned counsel for the parties and perused the impugned order and other papers on record vis-'-vis the contentions raised by the petitioner vide his application at hand.

(3.) The aforesaid prosecution has been instituted pursuant to a complaint being filed by the opposite party in the court of the learned SDJM, Nabarangpur, on the allegations that on 30/5/1992 the petitioner, who at the relevant time was working as Sub-Inspector of Excise locked the Foreign Liquor shop standing in the name of the wife of the opposite party at Nabarangpur without any documentation, by giving threat to the Salesmen of the shop. It is further alleged that on 4/6/1992 the petitioner again came to the said liquor shop with some liquor bottles and kept the same inside the shop and on 5/6/1992 at 11 A.M. the petitioner again came to the said shop and removed the articles from the store room of the shop without preparing any seizure list. It is further case of the opposite party that when he asked the petitioner about the matter, the petitioner threatened him with dire consequences and to ruin his business, inasmuch as the opposite party-complainant was not paying the monthly quota of bribe to the petitioner. The learned S.D.J.M., Nabarangpur on recording the initial statement of the complainant and the statements of the witnesses in an enquiry under Sec. 202 Cr.P.C. took cognizance of the offences aforesaid and issued process against the petitioner vide the order dtd. 30/7/1993. Then, the petitioner moved an application on 3/2/1999 before the S.D.J.M., Nabarangpur seeking to recall the aforesaid order of cognizance on the ground, inter-alia, that no prosecution could have been launched against him without the requisite sanction under Sec. 197 Cr.P.C. The learned S.D.J.M., Nabarangpur vide the order dtd. 25/9/2010 having rejected the said petition, the petitioner has approached this Court with the present application.