IMPORTANT POINT
A criminal complaint which does not disclose any offence except a civil dispute between the parties, is liable to be quashed.

JUDGMENT

Altamas Kabir, J.—On 21st June, 2005, the petitioner herein lodged a First Information Report with the Kovur Police Station in Nellore District against the private respondent Nos. 2, 3, 4 and 5 herein alleging commission of offences under Sections 196, 199, 120(B), 403, 406 and 418 Indian Penal Code.

2. The complaint in short is that Raghava Infrastructure Private Ltd. was a Private Limited Company engaged in doing civil contract works. Soma Enterprise Limited is also doing civil contract works having its corporate office at 14, Avenue-4, Banjara Hills, Hyderabad.and its site office near Saibaba Temple, Kovur, adjacent to National Highway-5. It was stated that the respondent No. 3 was one of its Directors. The Respondent Nos. 4 and 5 are the Project Manager and Materials Engineer of the Company.

3. It was alleged in the complaint that Soma Enterprise Limited who obtained a contract for executing work on the Nellore Bypass Road on National Highway-5, appointed the complainant as its sub-contractor for excavation and transportation of gravel for the formation of embankment of Nellore Bypass Road on National Highway-5 from Km 172.840 to 178.200 from 1st June, 2002 onwards. The agreed rate of remuneration was Rs.27/- per cubic meter for the first kilometer and Rs.4/- per cubic meter for each kilometer thereafter.

4. It was alleged that from the month of August, 2002 to December, 2002 Soma Enterprise Limited started mixing fly ash with the gravel purportedly in keeping with instructions received. On account of such mixing of fly ash with the gravel, Soma Enterprise Ltd. began deducting various amounts from the complainant’s bills. According to the complainant, despite repeated protests, Soma Enterprise Limited did not pay any heed and continued to mix fly ash with the gravel supplied by the complainant and also continued to deduct amounts from the complainant’s bill, in order to cause unlawful loss to the complainant and unlawful gain for itself.

5. It is alleged that the Director of Soma Enterprise Ltd. assured the complainant that he would disburse the amount pertaining to the quantity of gravel by adopting the best suitable method for arriving at the volumetric bifurcation of gravel and fly ash from the mix. According to the complainant, he continued to execute the work entrusted to him as per the aforesaid assurance.

6. It was alleged in the complaint that a sum of Rs.5.72 lakhs had been deducted from the bill for the month of February, 2003 alone. It was also the complainant’s case that he had requested the Director and Project Manager to count the number of tippers of gravel being supplied and dumped by the complainant in the stock yard for payment purposes, but the Director did not agree to such a method.

7. The further complaint is that although the complainant continued to supply the gravel in terms of the sub-contract, the Director changed his stand and asked the complainant to prove that the formula by which they were deducting the amount for fly ash was wrong. On that basis the complainant approached the Geo Marine Consultants Private Limited, Indira Nagar, Chennai, and had the gravel and fly ash tested. A report was prepared by the Managing Director, but the same was not accepted by Soma Enterprise Ltd. Consequently, the complainant approached the IIT Madras and got the mixed tested at the Department of Ocean Engineering, IIT, Madras, through Professor Dr. S. Narasimha Rao, who was of the view that although 33.3% of fly ash is mixed with gravel there will not be any increase in the volume of gravel soil. According to the complainant, as a counter-blast and with an intention to cheat the complainant, Soma Enterprise Ltd. had hatched a criminal conspiracy with IIT, Chennai Professors S.R. Gandhi and Dr. G.R. Dodagoundar and created a fake report to cheat the complainant and cause wrongful loss to him. On the basis of the aforesaid complaint, the complainant requested the police authorities to investigate into the