ASHISH KUMAR JHA Vs. STATE OF BIHAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE Petitioner, the then Managing Director of Magadh Central Co-operative Bank being faced with a criminal prosecution made an application to the concerned Magistrate that the case diary does not contain any material allegations against him and he deserves to be discharged under Section 289 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. After going through the case diary and taking into consideration the material allegations made by the complainant and the evidence collected by the police, the learned Magistrate recorded that the case diary contained sufficient material to connect the accused with the alleged crime. It accordingly rejected the application.

(2.) BEING aggrieved by the said order the Petitioner has come to this Court, inter-alia, submitting that the order passed by the learned Magistrate is patently illegal and calls for an interference of this Court. It is contended before this Court that the Petitioner himself had made certain complaints against certain persons and also made an application for audit of accounts, thereafter the audit was conducted and the Joint Registrar, Cooperative Societies lodged a report with the police against certain other persons. According to him the Petitioner was not shown as an accused. It is further contended that but for an omnibus statement that the Petitioner was involved in the matter, no other allegations or specific allegations have been made against the Petitioner. Referring to the judgment of the Supreme Court in Chandrapal Singh and Ors. v. Mahamj Singh and Anr. and Pepsi Food Ltd. and Anr. v. Spl. Judicial Magistrate and Ors. it was contended that if there is no material available on the record then the Court cannot proceed against the accused and the Court should nip in the bud and should discharge the accused at the very inception.

(3.) IT is made clear that the observations made by this Court are only for the purpose of disposal of this case and in any case would not affect the merits of the case during the course of trial.