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Judgment
HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE ANIL KUMAR CHOUDHARY
By the Court:- Heard the parties.
This Criminal Miscellaneous Petition has been filed invoking the jurisdiction of this Court under Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure with the prayer to quash the entire criminal proceedings including the First Information Report and the order dated 23.09.2019 whereby and where under the learned Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate, Lohardaga has sent the complaint petition being Complaint Case No. 172 of 2019 to the concerned police station for registration of First Information Report under Section 156(3) of the Code of Criminal Procedure; basing upon the same, Kuru P.S. Case No. 167 of 2019 has been registered involving the offences punishable under Sections 420, 406, 467, 468, 471, 120B of the Indian Penal Code.
Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that the investigation of the case is still going on and charge sheet has not yet been submitted in this case.
At the outset, the learned counsel for the opposite party No.2 raises a preliminary objection and submits that since the petitioner – Magma Fincorp Limited through its Senior Manager, has filed this Criminal Miscellaneous Petition and neither Magma Fincorp Limited nor its Senior Manager is the accused person of the case; hence, the petitioner is not an aggrieved person in respect of the First Information Report concerned. It is next submitted that investigation of the case is still going on, so the petitioner has no locus standi to challenge the First Information Report. In this respect, the learned counsel for the opposite party No.2 relies upon the order of this Court in the case of M/s Panasonic India Private Limited vs. The State of Jharkhand & Another reported in 2025:JHHC:18041 passed in Cr.M.P. No. 3216 of 2019 dated 07th July, 2025.
The submissions made by the learned counsel for the opposite party No.2 is countered by the learned counsel for the petitioner by relying upon the judgment of this Court in the case of M/s. Steel Authority of India Limited (R.M.D), D.G.M. Gua Ore Mines through its Deputy General Manager (D.G.M) Vijay Kumar Singh Vs. The State of Jharkhand & Another passed in Cr.M.P. No. 2956 of 2022 dated 22nd April, 2024 and submits that therein in the facts of that case, when cognizance of the offence was taken and summons was issued to the D.G.M., this Court considering the fact of that case and the settled principle of law that cognizance of an offence cannot be taken against a post without mentioning the name of the individual, quashed the entire criminal proceedings. Hence, it is submitted that in this case also, since the First Information Report has been instituted against the post, hence, this Criminal Miscellaneous Petition at the instance of the petitioner is maintainable.
Having heard the rival submissions made at the Bar and after carefully going through the materials available in the record, it is pertinent to mention here that it is needless to mention here that the purpose of the First Information Report is to set the law in motion. Admittedly, neither the petitioner nor the Senior Manager who has filed this Criminal Miscellaneous Petition is an accused person of the case.
The undisputed fact remains that if the entire allegations made in the First Information Report are considered to be true in their entirety, then the offence alleged is made out. Police are investigating the case. The petitioner is not an aggrieved person.
Under such circumstances, this Court is of the considered view that this Criminal Miscellaneous Petition filed for quashing the First Information Report at the behest of the petitioner who is not an accused of the case in which the investigation is still going on, is not maintainable.
Accordingly, this Criminal Miscellaneous Petition is dismissed being not maintainable.