SURESH KUMAR CHANDELA Vs. ZAHEER ABBAS

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This S.B. Criminal Revision petition under Sec. 397 read with Sec. 401 Cr.P.C has been preferred by the revisionist-petitioner for the quashing and setting aside of the order dtd. 29/6/2024 passed by the learned District and Session Judge, Jaipur Metropolitan-II in criminal revision petition No. 58/2024, titled Zaheer Abbas & Anr. Vs. Mahesh & Ors.

(2.) The brief facts of the case as put forth by the Counsel for the revisionist- petitioner are that the revisionist-petitioner had filed a complaint before the concerned Magistrate who thereafter exercising his power under Sec. 156(3) Cr.P.C, sent the said complaint to the SHO, Police Station, Chitrakoot, Jaipur for investigation. Upon receiving the complaint the SHO concerned registered a first information report bearing No. 17/2021 for the offences under Ss. 420, 467, 468, 471 and 120-B IPC. It is alleged in FIR that one Shri Sohanlal Sharma executed a will in favour of the revisionist-petitioner on 23/9/2019. The will was registered on 23/9/2019, during the lifetime of the executor of the will, Shri Sohan Lal. Further the accused-Sangeeta Sharma is alleged to be one of the witness of the will executed in favour of the revisionist-petitioner by Shri Sohan Lal. Having the knowledge of the existence of the said will, Sangeeta Sharma in connivance with other persons is alleged to have prepared a forged and fabricated will of late Shri Sohan Lal Sharma, in her favour, on 22/2/2020 and after the death of Sohan Lal Sharma on 29/2/2020, she got the forged will registered on 17/3/2020. During investigation, the accused persons had made an application before the police authorities for transfer of investigation to other authorities. Thereafter the investigation was transferred to the Special Operation Group (S.O.G). As per the FSL report, the signature of late Shri Sohan Lal on the will dtd. 23/9/2019 are found to be genuine and the signature on the will dtd. 22/2/2020 are found to be forged and dissimilar to the admitted signature of late Shri Sohan Lal. Moreover, the bail applications of the accused persons have been dismissed by this Court. Thereafter, at the instance of the accused persons the investigation was again transferred. Since the investigation had not been concluded within the stipulated time as given under Sec. 167 (2) Cr.P.C, the accused persons were released on default bail vide order dtd. 30/9/2021. Thereafter, the investigation was again transferred to the S.O.G, Department of Police. After investigation, the S.O.G sent the conclusion report of the investigation to the concerned Police Station. After receiving the investigation report, the SHO, Police Station, Chitrakoot, Jaipur submitted the charge sheet against the accused persons for the offences under Ss. 420, 467, 468, 471 and 120-B IPC. After filing of the charge sheet, the learned Magistrate took cognizance for the said offences on 1/4/2023. Thereafter, the SHO filed an application before the Court of Metropolitan Magistrate, Jaipur on 28/5/2024 for grant of permission to conduct further investigation. The Magistrate after considering the contents of the application, dismissed the said application by an order dtd. 1/6/2024. Thereafter, the SHO concerned filed a revision petition before the Learned District and Session Judge, Jaipur Metropolitan-II on 14/6/2024. The matter thereafter was transferred to the Court of Additional District and Session Judge, Jaipur Metropolitan-II. The learned Session Judge allowed the revision petition on 29/6/2024. Thereafter, being aggrieved by the order dtd. 29/6/2024, the revisionist petitioner has preferred the present revision petition.

(3.) The Learned Counsel on behalf of the revisionist-petitioner has submitted that the investigation conducted by the S.O.G appears to be proper on the face of it and there were no lacuna in the same as the entire evidence had been collected fairly and upon appreciation of those evidences and consideration of the expert opinion by the FSL report, it had been concluded that a case of cheating and forgery is made out against the accused persons and that the investigation had been carried on in a fair and impartial manner. The Counsel further submits that on a bare perusal of the application filed by the SHO, it becomes clear that the police want to conduct de-novo/re-investigation under the garb of further investigation and that the Investigating Officer is not an aggrieved person and was thus not authorized to file the application dtd. 28/5/2024. Further, with respect to the FIR No. 17/2021, the investigation has been conducted a total of six times. Counsel further submits that as per the circular issued by the government of Rajasthan dtd. 6/10/2019, an investigation can be transferred a maximum of three times only and thereafter the investigation can be transferred only after the prior approval of the State government on the request of the Director-General of Police. However, in the present case the accused persons have filed applications for transfer even after the taking up of the cognizance. Thus, the application dtd. 28/5/2024 is in clear violation of the circular above mentioned. The Counsel submits that there is no need for further investigation as the Investigation Agency and the Investigating Officer want to wipe off the conclusion of the earlier investigation by means of conducting a re-investigation. In the circumstances, the impugned order is arbitrary and illegal and deserves to be quashed and set aside. The council thus prays that their revision petition be allowed.