JUDGMENT :

SUNIL B. SHUKRE, J.

1. This is a petition invoking jurisdiction of this Court under Articles 226 and 227 of the Constitution of India, read with Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, seeking quashing and setting aside of the charge-sheet filed and Charge framed in Special Case No.2 of 1998 against the petitioners. The facts leading to filing of the present petition are stated in brief as under :

(i) The petitioner no.1 is a company registered under the Companies Act, 1956 and petitioner no.2 is an individual, who would take care of the transactions of petitioner no.1. The petitioners are accused nos.3 and 4, respectively, in Special Case No.2 of 1998 filed before the Special Court constituted under the Special Court (Trial of Offences Relating to Transactions in Securities) Act, 1992, (hereinafter called as “Special Court Act:”, for short). Respondent no.1 is the informant in Special Case No.2 of 1998, which registered the FIR against the petitioners and other accused persons at the behest of Respondent no.3 – Canbank Financial Services Ltd., (hereinafter called as “CANFINA Services”, for short), a company to whom the alleged financial loss, on account of fraudulent transactions entered into by the petitioners with other accused persons, has been caused. Respondent no.4 – S. Ramesh Kumar and respondent no.5 – Ashish Parthasarathy are the Executives of Citibank NA and are accused no.5 and accused no.6, respectively, in Special Case No.2 of 1998. The other accused persons in Special Case No.2 of 1998 are one M.K. Ashok Kumar (Accused No.1), S. Mohan (Accused No.2), the officers of CANFINA Services and Hiten Dalal (Accused No.7) – the Share Broker.

(ii). The case against the petitioners in Special Case No.2 of 1998 is that they were part of the criminal conspiracy, object of which was to dishonestly and fraudulently cause wrongful loss to CANFINA Services and the criminal conspiracy was hatched by the petitioners and the remaining accused persons. The case arose against the petitioners when, some time in May, 1994, CANFINA Services filed a complaint with respondent no.1 alleging commission of various offences in respect of the transactions in two securities, viz. CANDOUBLE and CANPREMIUM, undertaken by CANFINA Services on 13th May 1992 and 15th May 1992. CANFINA Services alleged that it suffered wrongful loss at the hands of the petitioners and other accused persons in these transactions. On the basis of this complaint, an FIR bearing Crime No.RC.2(BSC)/94-BOM came to be registered on 31st May 1994. The allegations were that on 13th May 1992, M.K. Ashok Kumar (Accused No.1) and S. Mohan (Accused No.2), officers of CANFINA Services, purporting to act on behalf of CANFINA Services, sold 2.8 crore units of CANPREMIUM and 75 lakh units of CANDOUBLE to Citibank NA, out of which the price of CANDOUBLE units sold to Citibank NA was much below the market rate. It is alleged that 75 lakh units of CANDOUBLE were sold on that day to Citibank NA at the rate of Rs.16.50 per unit, though the market value of these units was in the range of Rs.30 to Rs.35 per unit. It was further alleged that on 15th May 1992, petitioner no.1 sold 2 crore units of CANPREMIUM at the rate of Rs.20/- per unit and 75 lakh units of CANDOUBLE at the rate of Rs.30/- per unit to CANFINA Services and this transaction was a fraudulent transaction as there was no delivery of physical units to CANFINA Services nor was there any intention on the part of the petitioner no.1 to deliver these units to CANFINA Services. It is further alleged that petitioner no.1 had, in fact, purchased 2 crore units of CANPREMIUM at the rate of Rs.19.75 per unit and 75 lakhs units of CANDOUBLE at the rate of Rs.29.75 per unit from Share Broker – Hiten Dalal by paying him a sum of Rs.61,81.25,000/-towards the purchase of these securities and thereafter, petitioner no.1, on the same day, sold these units to CANFINA Services at the total price of Rs.62.50 crore; but, there was