Ranjit More. J.

Rule. Rule is made returnable forthwith and by consent, the matters are heard finally.

2. The petitioners in all the above petitions have approached this Court invoking jurisdiction under Article 226 of the Constitution of India read with the provisions of Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 for quashing and setting-aside the charge-sheet/criminal proceedings of special case No.52 of 2017 pending on the file of learned Special Judge, CBI, Pune for the offences punishable under Sections 120-B, 420 read with 511 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (for short “the IPC”) and Sections 13(2) and 15 read with 13(1)(d) of Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 (for short “the PC Act”).

3. The above referred charge-sheet is filed against 18 accused. The accused Nos. 1 to 4 are the purchasers, accused No.5 is an advocate, accused No.6 is the proprietor, accused Nos. 7 and 8 are the Sub- Registrars and accused Nos. 9 to 18 are the power of attorney holders of the sellers.

4. The case of the prosecution is that during the period between 2007 and 2009, the accused No.1 (Shri Deepak Dattatray Gadgil)-the authorized signatory of accused No.2 (Shri Virendra Dattatray Mhaiskar)-Managing Director of accused No.3 (M/s.Aryan Infrastructure Investments Pvt.Ltd.) and accused No.4 (M/s.IRB Infrastructure Developers Ltd.) along with accused No.5 (Advocate- Ajit Kulkarni); and accused No.6(wife of accused No.5 – Smt. Jyoti Kulkarni-Prop. Of M/s. Jyo Development Corporation); along with accused No.7(Ashwini Kshirsagar, petitioner in writ petition No.4572 of 2018), the then Sub-Registrar of Lonavala, Pune and accused No.8 (Anant Pandurang Kale, petitioner in writ petition No.4396 of 2018), the then Sub-Registrar of Maval, Pune, and accused Nos. 9 to 18, the power of attorney holders entered into criminal conspiracy with each other and, dishonestly and fraudulently attempted to cheat the Government of Maharashtra by way of grabbing the lands in Village – Pimploli, District- Pune.

5. The following facts emerge from the record produced before the Court.

In the year 1995 to 1999, the Public Works Department (PDW), on behalf of Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) had acquired several parcels of lands in village – Pimploli for the purpose of Mumbai Pune Expressway. In the year 2000, MSRDC completed the construction of the Expressway and, in the year 2002, it was made fully functional. So far as the lands in question are concerned, in the year 2003, the concerned Talathi record mutation entry Nos.638, 639, 640 and 641 as per Kami Jasta Patras (statement showing reduction or increase in the acquired land) sent by the Land Acquisition Officer stating that the acquired lands and the name of the acquiring body are deleted from the 7/12 Extract recording the entries in respect of these lands. The accused Nos.3 and 4, the two infrastructure companies were desirous of developing a special township and intended to purchase land for the said purpose. The accused No.6 who was carrying the business of real estate development in the name of Jyo Development Corporation represented to the accused Nos. 3 and 4 that it had acquired rights in various parcels of lands in villages of Pimploli and Taje in Pune District and offered to transfer about 1000 Acres of land. On 26th December, 2006, the accused No.5- a practising lawyer in Pune engaged for due diligence, issued a public notice in relation to some of the lands proposed to be purchased, out of which, at least 5 parcels of land, were allegedly already acquired by MSRDC. No objection was received from MSRDC or any government authority to the public notice. On 9th January, 2007, the accused Nos.4 and 6 executed an agreement, under which, the accused No.6 agreed to transfer the lands to accused No.4 free from encumbrance and encroachment and also undertook the work of identifying the lands, due diligence etc. On 22nd January, 2007, the accused Nos.3 and 6 respectively executed an a