Sahai, J.

1. The petitioners have filed this application under Articles 20, 226 and 227 of the Constitution of India and under Sections 439 and 561A of the Code of Criminal Procedure. Their prayer is that a prosecution which is pending against them be quashed.

2. This application has arisen in the following circumstances: Sri Vishnu Swaroop is an Inspector of Commercial Taxes at Monghyr. The petitioners and Anant Ram, father of petitioner Shyam Lal Jagnani, have their shops for sale of cloth and grains and other articles in Barhee Bazar within the district of Monghyr. On the 22nd April, 1952, Vishnu Swaroop filed a written report at Barhee police station. In this report, he stated that, while inspecting the papers of the petitioners in connection with an agricultural income-tax case, he found a rokar relating to transactions in food grains by the Bihar Pood Trading Co. with the petitioners as its proprietors and started taking extracts from that rokar and signing its pages. The petitioners showed a threatening attitude to Vishnu Swaroop, snatched away the rokar from him and became ready to assault him. After making an investigation into these allegations, the Sub-Inspector