JUDGMENT

1. This petition is filed under Sec. 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (for brevity "CrPC") to quash the proceedings in Crime No.107 of 2019 of G.Sigadam Police Station, wherein the petitioners are alleged to have committed offence punishable under Ss. 468, 417, 420, 471 read with 34 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (for brevity "IPC").

2. The brief facts of the case are that the respondent No.2 filed a private complaint against the petitioners on the file of Judicial Magistrate of the First Class, Ponduru alleging that there are civil disputes pending between the petitioners and respondent No.2 in Civil Courts; the 1st petitioner is Ex-Sarpanch of the village and 3rd petitioner is her husband; the 2nd petitioner is alleged to be a fictitious person set up by enemies of the respondent No.2; the 2nd petitioner filed O.S.No.1 of 2019 on the file of Family Court, Srikakukalam for the reliefs of "Declaration" and "Recovery of Possession"; the 2nd petitioner who was stranger to the respondent No.2, being instigated by the 3rd petitioner, filed the above suit by forging the Certificate got issued by the Sarpanch i.e., 1st petitioner herein, dtd. 8/3/2017; the Certificate issued by 1st petitioner was produced for the purpose of showing the 2nd petitioner as resident of Gedda Kancharam Village and also to show that she was the wife of Nakka Papinaidu, who survived till 1977 and that later she left to Chinthalapadu village and also visit Gedda Kancharam village occasionally and getting cultivating the land cultivated by N.Suryanarayana, N.Venkata Ramana and N.Muralidhara Rao. When the copy was supplied, the respondent No.2 addressed letter under Sec. 6 (1) of the Right to Information Act, 2005 to furnish necessary application and also the resolution copy; the reply given by the Panchayat Secretary, Geddakancharam village, dtd. 18/6/2019 indicates that there is no available record by the date of reply; the respondent No.2 believes that the Certificate was pressed into service in the civil suit at the instigation of his natural brothers with a view to take revenge against the respondent No.2; petitioners alleged to have committed the offence for the sake of spurious litigation only. It is the contention of petitioners that they have been falsely implicated in the case only to harass them; initiation of criminal proceedings against the petitioners is pure abuse of process of law. Hence, they request to quash the criminal proceedings.

3. The learned Judicial Magistrate of the First Class, Ponduru referred the complaint to police under Sec. 156 (3) CrPC and police registered the complaint as a case in Crime No.107 of 2019 on 4/10/2019 for offences punishable under Sec. 468, 417, 420, 471 read with 34 IPC.

4. Learned counsel for the petitioners would submit that basing on a private complaint filed by the respondent No.2, the learned Judicial Magistrate of the First Class, Ponduru referred the complaint to the police under Sec. 156 (3) of CrPC to register FIR and investigate the same and then, the Station House Officer, G.Sigadam Police Station of Srikakulam District registered a case in Crime No.107 of 2019 for the offences punishable under Sec. 468, 417, 420, 471 read with 34 IPC against the petitioner Nos.1 to 3 under the allegations that the 1st petitioner issued a Certificate dtd. 8/3/2017 in favour of 2nd petitioner at the instance of the 3rd petitioner stating that the 2nd petitioner is wife of one Nakka Papi Naidu of Gedda Kancharam village, G.Sigadam Mandal of Srikakulam District and that, she lead conjugal life till 1977 and thereafter, after the death of Papi Naidu, she left to her native place Chinthalapeta village and she has been visiting Gedda Kancharam village now and then and getting the lands cultivated through Nakka Suryanarayana, Nakka Venkata Ramana and Nakka Muralidhara Rao.

5. Learned counsel would further submit that the impugned FIR was registered for the offences punishable under Sec. 461, 417, 420, 4