MUKESH KUMAR Vs. STATE OF J&K

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Through the instant petition filed under Sec. 561-A of the Code of Criminal Procedure ( for short Cr.P.C.) petitioners seek quashing of the order dtd. 3/3/2018 passed by the Court of learned Munsiff (JMIC), Kishtwar whereby the application filed by the petitioners in Criminal Challan pending disposal before the said court titled "State vs.Naresh Kumar and Ors." arising out of the FIR No.165/2015 of Police Station, Kishtwar for the offences under Ss. 419/420 r/w 120-B R.?.?., has been dismissed.

(2.) The brief facts leading to the registration of FIR No.165/2015 with Police Station, Kishtwar are that the accused persons in conspiracy cheated the petitioners of an amount to the tune of Rs.35.00 lacs, for which, at the instance of the petitioners an FIR No.165/2015 came to be registered with the Police Station, Kishtwar for commission of offence under Sec. 419/420 read with 120-B RPC. During the course of investigation, the accused persons were arrested and a sum of Rs.35.00 lacs was also recovered from them. The amount, which was recovered from the accused and with respect to which offence had been committed, was deposited in the Government Treasury by the orders of the trial court. The trial court i.e. the court of learned Munsiff (JMIC) Kishtwar had passed order on 31/10/2015 thereby rejecting the application of the petitioners herein for the custody of the property in their favour. The amount recovered by Police i.e. Rs.35.00 Lacs during the investigation is the amount which the accused persons had received from the petitioners by playing fraud and cheating and the petitioners are the bona fide claimants of that amount. In pursuance to the well planned conspiracy the accused persons made the petitioners to believe that a metal i.e. a 'Trat Gola' which is very precious as same falls on earth from the sky and, as such, petitioners were made to part with hefty amount of Rs.35.00 lacs to the accused persons for searching and providing the petitioner that 'Trat Gola'. It was a total fraud, which had been played by the accused on the petitioners and petitioners were made to part with their hard earned money, for which, the FIR came to be registered with the Police Station. Kishtwar. The accused persons had induced the present petitioners to arrange an amount of Rs.35.00 Lacs to be paid to the said accused persons by the petitioners so that the said ball could be handed over to the petitioners. The petitioners having fallen prey to the inducements and assurances were constrained to even sell out their landed property purchased by them out of their hard earned money and the petitioners had entered into agreements to sell their landed property and had received payments from the prospective buyers and the same payment was ultimately obtained by the accused persons from the petitioners and the same very amount was recovered from the accused persons after the registration of the FIR and during investigation.

(3.) It is contended that petitioner No.1 had on an earlier occasion applied for the release of said amount but the said application was dismissed by the court of learned Munsiff (JMIC), Kishtwar vide its order dtd. 14/6/2016 and the petitioner no.1 had preferred a petition under Sec. 561-A Cr.P.C. against the said order before this Hon'ble Court and this Hon'ble Court vide its order dtd. 28/9/2017 dismissed the same but gave the liberty to petitioner to approach the court of learned Munsiff (JMIC), Kishtwar for the release of the said amount after the charge sheet in this regard is filed before the Trial Court. Since the petitioners were in dire need of the above said amount which has been seized from the accused persons by the Police of Police Station, Kishtwar and against the said persons the Challan under the relevant provisions of RPC has also been filed by the Police Station, Kishtwar, the petitioners herein once again approached the learned Trial Court with an application seeking release of the seized amount in their favour. However, the Trial court after calling for the objections from the State as well as the accused persons and after hearing all the interested parties, dismissed the said application vide its order dtd. 3/3/2018.