The principle of double jeopardy, enshrined in Article 20(2) of the Constitution of India and Section 300 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, bars the prosecution from trying a person again for the same offences after they have been acquitted or convicted in a previous case.

JUDGMENT

1. This Criminal Petition, under Sec. 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, is filed by the Accused Nos.1, 2 , 13 and 14 to quash the proceedings in C.C.No.11 of 2018 on the file of the Principal Special Judge for CBI Cases, Visakhapatnam.

2. The allegations, in brief, in the charge sheet may be stated as follows:

Tobacco Board was constituted by the Government of India under an Act of Parliament to bring out an all round development of the tobacco industry. A1/the petitioner No.1 was the Auction Superintendent, A2/the petitioner No.2 was the Assistant Manager, Accounts, A13 and A14/petitioner Nos.3 and 4 were Field Officers at Auction Platform 17, Tobacco Board, Devarapalli. A1 worked from 2004 to June, 2006 and A2, A13 and A14 worked from August, 2005 to February, 2007. As per the guidelines and Circular Orders for registration of Virginia Tobacco Growers and Barn operators, a person who wanted to register himself as tobacco grower, has to submit an application in the prescribed proforma giving the details of the land held by him and number of the authorized barns possessed by him. That application has to be processed by Field Officer. After making necessary verification, the Auction Superintendent approves the registration of grower. Thereafter he will send the file to the Assistant Manager (Accounts) for accepting the fee and to ensure that the grower of tobacco had no outstanding dues with any bank or any other institution including the Tobacco Board. Further as per the procedure and guidelines of the Board, the growers have to renew their registration every year by paying the prescribed fee. If once registration is completed, the grower will be issued with Tobacco Grower's Pass Book (TGPB), wherein the particulars of the growers, name of the bank from which the grower intends to take loan and the bank with which he is having account, number of barns he owned or taken on lease, the area of land cultivated etc are noted.

A3 to A9 moved applications for registration as growers of tobacco and also some of them for construction of barns showing that they are owners of different extents of land in different survey numbers though they did not possess at all or owned only small extent of land than what they have shown in their applications. The petitioners herein who were concerned in processing such applications as well as recommending and registering the applicants as growers of tobacco and possessors of barns, accepted the said applications, processed them and registered the applicants in the register maintained. They have recommended for the crop loans etc., A4 to A9 and some of the growers of tobacco along with other accused entered into conspiracy and as such wrong entries were made in the TGPBs as if they borrowed loan from a bank wherefrom they have not borrowed or recommended to a bank for loan which is other than the bank that sanctioned the loan earlier and it is even before full repayment is made. The details of loans borrowed etc., are given in detail in the charge sheet, which may not be necessary to state here.

Thus, for the conspiracy the petitioners herein and other accused have entered in committing offences in fabricating documents, forging the signatures, using forged documents as genuine, falsification of accounts and also cheating, the CBI filed the charge sheet against the petitioners herein and other nine (9) accused for the offences punishable under Ss. 120B, 420, 465, 468, 471, and 477A IPC and under Sec. 13(2) r/w 13(1) (d) of Prevention of Corruption Act.

3. Heard Sri Dammalapati Srinivas, learned Senior Counsel for the petitioners and Sri N. Harinath, learned Deputy Solicitor General, appearing for the respondent. Perused the record.

4. On reliable information received during the year 2005, it is found that A3 approached the Tobacco Board Auction Platform, Devarapalli and got issued with Tobacco Board Growers Registration (TBGRs). Information further revealed that Tobacco Board supplies q