Read Time: 06 minutes

Synopsis

The Supreme Court has said when the High Court is called upon to invoke power under Section 482 Criminal Procedure Code, it is incumbent upon it to consider the question whether the allegations would constitute the offences alleged.

A bench of Justices CT Ravikumar and Rajesh Bindal allowed an appeal filed by Rajaram Sharma against the Allahabad High Court's March 17, 2020 order which dismissed his plea for quashing a criminal case lodged under Sections 420, 406, 504, and 506 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) with Police Station Brindavan, District Mathura. 

Before court, the appellant contended that even if the entire allegations were taken as correct, they would not satisfy the necessary ingredients to attract the offences. 

The bench said a careful scanning of the allegations would reveal that the very foundation for the case is that certain amount was transferred from the bank account of one Pankaj Sharma and his wife Ashu Sharma to the bank account of the appellant in connection with sale of a plot of land. 

"As a matter of fact, there is no case that an agreement was inked in regard to the alleged deal between the appellant and the second respondent or the appellant and the Pankaj Sharma and his wife Ashu and at any rate, no such document has been annexed to the complaint," the court noted.

Pankaj Sharma and Ashu, from whose bank account, money was allegedly transferred to the bank account of the appellant for the alleged deal, were not the complainants. The precise contention of the appellant was that the second respondent, was a stranger to the facts alleged in the FIR. 

The second respondent, who was the de-facto complainant, had also not entered appearance to contest the matter, despite being served of notice. 

Having carefully gone through the allegations, the FIR, and the charge sheet, the bench said, "We are of the considered view that ingredients necessary to constitute the offence under Sections 420, 406, 504, and 506 of the IPC are not made out. The impugned order would reveal that the said aspect was not at all looked into by the High Court."

"When the High Court was called upon to invoke power under Section 482 CrPC raising such contentions, it was incumbent upon the High Court to consider the question whether the allegations would constitute the offence(s) alleged against the appellant," it added.

The court set aside the High Court's order and consequently, quashed the entire proceedings arising out of the FIR.

However, the bench said, "We make it clear that in view of the quashment of the FIR and the charge sheet all further proceedings including those against the other accused, namely, Rakesh Rajora in the selfsame crime will also stand terminated."

Case Title: Rajaram Sharma vs. The State of Uttar Pradesh & Anr