Ashok Pachauri and Others vs State of Madhya Pradesh and Others

S.K. Gupta, J.—1. This petition has been filed under Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 for quashing the FIR registered at Crime No. 495/2011 at Police Station, Kotwali Morena, District Morena, for the offence punishable under Sections 212, 216 of IPC and Sections 11, 13 of the MPDVPK Act and its subsequent criminal proceedings in Spl. S.T. No. 12/2013 against the petitioners.

As per prosecution case, it is alleged against the petitioners that they alongwith other co-accused have provided food, shelter and ammunition to notorious criminal Sanju Pachori when he was absconding. Due to this, aforesaid Sanju Pachori has committed various offences during the period of this absconsion. It is also alleged against the petitioners and other co-accused that they are habitual of providing shelter to such criminals. It is further alleged that a letter allegedly written by notorious criminal Sanju Pachori was seized at the instance of petitioner Ashok Pachauri in which aforesaid Sanju Pachori has mentioned that how petitioners have helped him. On the basis of the aforesaid allegation, Crime No. 495/2011 has been registered at police Station Kotwali Morena, Distt. Morena for the offences under Sections 212, 216 of IPC and Sections 11, 13 of the MPDVPK Act. After investigation, police filed the Challan in the competent Court. Thereafter, charges for the aforesaid offences were framed against the petitioners and Spl. Sessions Trial No. 12/13 is pending in the Court of Special Judge, Morena.

Learned counsel, appearing for the petitioners, submitted that police has registered the aforesaid FIR against the petitioners only on the basis of a letter allegedly written by Sanju Pachori which has not even got verified by the police from the handwriting expert. It is further submitted that similarly situated co-accused Annu, Kallu @ Vijay and Bhoopat Kumar have filed petition under Section 482 of Cr.P.C. bearing M.Cr.C. Nos. 1473/2012 and M.Cr.C. No. 6334/2011 for quashing the FIR and Coordinate Bench of this Court vide order dated 31.7.2013 and 20.12.2011 quashed the FIR so far as it relates to them. It is further submitted that case of the petitioners is similar to that of aforesaid co-accused, hence, on the ground of parity, FIR registered against the petitioners be also quashed. Learned counsel for the petitioners in support of his arguments has also placed reliance on three judgments of the Apex Court State of Haryana and others v. Bhajan Lal and Others, , 1992 SCC (Cri) 426, Umesh Kumar v. State of Andhra Pradesh, , AIR 2014 SC 1106 and Sathish Mehra v. State of N.C.T. of Delhi and Anr., , AIR 2013 SC 506 and one decision of this Court in Ravikant Dubey & Ors. v. State of Madhya Pradesh & Anr., , 2014 Cr.L.R. (M.P.) 162.

Learned Public Prosecutor for the respondent/State opposed the contention of the learned counsel for the petitioners and submitted that there is prima facie evidence available on record against the petitioners, hence, prayed for dismissal of the petition.

Having heard the learned counsel for the parties, perused the case diary as well as the evidence available on record.

FIR has been registered against the petitioners on the basis of letter allegedly written by Sanju Pachori to the petitioners, according to which, Sanju Pachori stated in the letter that petitioners have always helped him by supplying necessary requirements and providing money.

Learned counsel for the petitioners has submitted that FIR registered against the co-accused Annu, Kallu @ Vijay and Bhoopat Kumar have been quashed by the Coordinate Bench of this Court in M.Cr.C. No. 1473/2012 and M.Cr.C. No. 6334/2011 and there is no distinguishable case against the present petitioners in comparison of aforesaid co-accused against whom the FIR has already been quashed. After perusal of the order dated 31.7.2013, it appears that FIR against Annu and Kallu has been quashed on the basis that in the letter aforesaid Sanju Pachori conveyed only Ram Ram and affection to Annu and Kallu. The relevant portion of the letter reads as under:--

So far as the order dated 20.12.2011 which was passed in M.Cr.C. No. 6334/2011, is concerned, the FIR has been quashed against the petitioner of that M.Cr.C. only on the ground that in the alleged letter written by Sanju Pachori reference of name of petitioner of that M.Cr.C. was only for borrowing some money and not returning it. The relevant portion of the letter is as follows:--

After perusal of the letter, it appears that specific allegation has been made against the petitioners of this case, Ashok Pachauri @ Johri, Soneram Sharma @ Pappi and Yadvendra Sharma @ Lallu, that they have helped Sanju Pachori in his criminal activities by providing money and other requirements. Relevant portion of the letter reads as under:--

Even if for the sake of argument it is presumed that there is no evidence in the alleged letter that petitioners have helped Sanju Pachori, but witnesses Murarilal, Rakesh and Ashok Singh in their statements recorded under Section 161 of Cr.P.C. have specifically stated that present petitioners have helped Sanju Pachori by providing him money as well as weapons. Hence, there is prima facie evidence available against the petitioners for the offence punishable under Sections 212, 216 of IPC and Sections 11/13 of the MPDVPK Act.

So far as the aforesaid judgments, on which reliance has been placed by the petitioners'' counsel, are concerned, there is prima facie evidence against the petitioners for committing the offences under Sections 212, 216 of IPC and Sections 11/13 of the MPDVPK Act, hence, the aforesaid decisions are not helpful to the petitioners in this case.

In view of the aforesaid discussion, there is no merit in this petition. Hence, the same is hereby dismissed.