A Police Officer would not be justified in saying that he is examining a complaint which, ex facie, has trappings of a civil dispute.

1. The action of respondents 3 and 4, in calling and pressurizing the petitioner to subscribe his signature to the already prepared documents without disclosing the contents thereof; in threatening to implicate him in criminal cases if he failed to do so; and in forcing him to yield to the illegal demands of the 5th respondent giving up his right, title share and interest in the devolved properties; is questioned in this Writ Petition as being arbitrary and illegal. The petitioner and the fifth respondent are siblings. The Deputy Commissioner of Police, West Zone, Hyderabad is the 3rd respondent, and the Inspector of Police, Sanjeeva Reddy Nagar P.S. is the 4th respondent. The 3rd respondent is arrayed as respondent No.6 eo-nominee, and the 4th respondent is arrayed as respondent No.7 eo-nominee. They shall, hereinafter, be referred to as respondents 3 and 4 respectively.

2. The petitioner, a software engineer and a green card holder, claims to have come to Hyderabad from the U.S.A. on 11.09.2013. It is his case that his sister (the 5th respondent),who was staying in Malakpet, had approached S.R. Nagar police station claiming to be a resident of Ameerpet; Sri Ajit Kumar, the Sub-Inspector of Police, S.R. Nagar police station had called him over the telephone at 1.00 p.m. on 14.11.2013, and had asked him to come to the police station; the 4th respondent-Inspector of Police did not show him the complaint lodged by the 5th respondent or divulge its contents; he was taken in a police jeep, from S.R. Nagar police station, to the office of the DCP - West Zone at A.C. Guards; he was directed to make himself available again, at the office of the Deputy Commissioner of Police, West Zone, on 19.11.2013 at 2.45 pm; when he went there on 19.11.2013, the 3rd respondent informed him that a complaint was lodged against him by the 5th respondent with the S.R. Nagar police station; it was not necessary to disclose the contents of the complaint to him, and he should effect a settlement and divide the properties with his sister i.e., the 5th respondent; he informed the 3rd respondent that neither had he committed any offence nor were there any questionable antecedents against him, except the alleged complaint said to have been lodged by the 5th respondent with the S.R. Nagar police station; he could not be asked to make himself available at the office of the 3rd respondent more so for division of properties, between him and the 5th respondent, which was a civil dispute in which the police had no right to interfere; the 5th respondent, who was present in the office of the 3rd respondent, started demanding that he give up his right, interest and share in certain flats and other properties; when he declined, the 3rd respondent asked him to affix his signature on prepared documents and stamp papers; when he demanded to know its contents, the 3rd respondent sternly instructed him to obey orders and do as he was told, otherwise criminal cases would be instituted preventing him from leaving the country to proceed back to the USA; he was subjected to various pressures and turmoils at the hands of the 5th respondent, and her henchmen; as he had offered resistance, the 5th respondent was surreptitiously putting the office of the 3rd respondent to use, meting out threats of implicating him in false criminal cases, in the event he refused to yield to her illegal demands that he give up his share and entitlement in the devolved properties; the 3rd respondent had asked him to leave his office and return at 11.00 am on 23.11.2013 after making up his mind on signing the documents that would be produced on that day; he was asked not to divulge these events to any one outside the office; he did not bring these facts to the notice of higher police authorities fearing a back lash from the 3rd respondent; and the action of respondents 3 and 4 is illegal and unauthorised, and has resulted in violation of his fundamental rights.

3. This Writ Petition was file