SANTOSH KUMAR Vs. THE STATE OF JHARKHAND

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Invoking the extra ordinary jurisdiction of this Court under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, the three petitioners have prayed to quash the entire criminal proceeding pending against the petitioners in connection with Jaridih P.S. no. 50 of 2013 including the order dated 28.04.2015 passed by the learned Judicial Magistrate, Bermo at Tenughat whereby and whereunder the cognizance of offence has been taken under Section 120 -B of I.P.C. and also under Section 9(B)(b) of the Explosive Act and Section 5 of the Explosive Substance Act.

(2.) Bereft of unnecessary details of the allegations made in the F.I.R., the relevant part of the First Information Report, which is based on the self -statement of the Officer -in -charge of Jaridih Police Station, in short, is that on the basis of some confidential information, the police party reached near the line hotel of Ramgarh -Bokaro road and found one explosive van parked near the said hotel but seeing the police party, the driver fled away from there but one lady Kiran Devi and one Amar Munda were found sitting in the cabin of the said van. On inquiry, they disclosed the name of the driver as Ramesh Mahato, who fled away after seeing the police party and the van was found to be loaded with a huge quantity of explosive materials, the details of which are given in the first information report. The driver was anyhow apprehended and on inquiry, he disclosed that one Vijay Kumar is the owner of explosive van and, thereafter, the driver and owner were directed to produce the relevant documents and the seizure list of all the documents were also prepared in presence of Block Development Officer of Jaridih Block. The Proprietor of M/s. HiraLal Agency Pvt. Ltd., the owner Vijay Kumar of the explosive van bearing registration no. JH01 -AA -4001, the owner of M/s. Verma Transport, Pakur and the owner of M/s. Thallaru Constructions, Pakur were made accused as certain documents relating to them were produced by the apprehended driver Ramesh Mahto but no relevant document was produced even after inquiry.

(3.) The police after investigation submitted the charge -sheet on 14.06.2013 against Ramesh Mahato, Amar Munda and Kiran Devi under Sections 120(B) of I.P.C. and 9 (B)(b) of Explosive Act and also under Section 5 of Explosive Substance Act keeping the investigation pending against other accused persons. Accordingly cognizance was taken. Subsequently on 31.03.2015, the police submitted a supplementary charge -sheet against the owner of M/s. Verma Transport, owner of M/s. Thallaru Constructions, the Proprietor of M/s. HiraLal Agency Pvt. Ltd. namely Santosh Kumar, the owner of explosive van namely Vijay Kumar and one Vasudeo Mahto under the same sections in which earlier charge -sheet was submitted and the court vide order dated 28.04.2015 accepting the earlier order of cognizance proceeded against the accused persons of the supplementary charge sheet also including the petitioners. Being aggrieved by the order taking cognizance and the continuation of the criminal proceeding, the present writ has been preferred.