Nagendra Rai, J.

1. In both cases, some of the points involved are common and as such they have been heard together and are being disposed of by this common judgment.

2. The petitioner in Cr. Misc. No. 7878 of 1996 is Ram Harsh Das and he has filed this application for quashing the order dated 12.4.1996, passed by the Special Judge, South Bihar, Patna in Crime No. R.C. 43/86, Special Case No. 79/86, taking cognizance under Secs. 120-B, 420, 409, 477-A of the Indian Penal Code (in short I.P.C.) and 5(2), read with Sec. 5(1)(c) & (d) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1947, corresponding to Sec. 13(2), read with 13(l)(c) and (d) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988. 3. Ajit Dutt is petitioner in Cr. Misc. No. 13551 of 1996. Initially, he filed the application for quashing the order dated 14.6.1996, passed by the Special Judge, South Bihar, Patna, in Special Case No. 81 of 1986, R.G. Case No. 45/86, by which, he rejected the prayer of the petitioner to recall the warrant of arrest issued against him and also rejected the prayer of the petitioner to dispense with his personal appearance and permit him to appear through Advocate as provided under Sec. 205 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (hereinafter referred to as the Code). Later on, he also challenged the order dated 12.4.1996, by which cognizance has been taken under Secs. 120-B, 420, 468, 471 and 477 of the I.P.C., read with Sec. 5(1) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1947, corresponding to Sec. 13(1)(c) & (d), read with Section 13(A) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988.

3. The Government of Bihar in the year 1986 received a complaint about large scale bungling and manipulation in the purchase of articles by the Police Department of the State of Bihar and, accordingly, requested to Government of India vide letter dated 5.3.1986, to get the case investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation (in short C.B.I.), S.P.E. and, thereafter, several first information reports were lodged on 13.11.1986 and the same were forwarded to the Special Judge, South Bihar, C.B.I., Patna.

4. Petitioner Ram Harsh Das, as stated above, is facing prosecution in Crime No. R.C. 43/86. This was registered with allegation that one V.K. Joshi, while functioning as the Superintendent of Police, Ranchi, during the year 1983 to July, 1984, entered into a criminal conspiracy with several suppliers and committed several acts and omissions resulting into wrongful loss to the State Government and wrongful gain to the accused persons. It was stated that he made purchase of articles worth rupees 40,00,000.00 dishonestly and fraudulently violating all the norms and instructions of the Bihar Police Manual, Rules of Bihar Finance Rules, instructions issued from the Police Headquarter from time to time. The purchases were beyond his financial and administrative competence. The articles, purchased by Mr. Joshi, were to be purchased by the Police Headquarter as they were of Centralised List, but the said articles were purchased by the Superintendent of Police, who had no authority to do so. The purchases were made from the suppliers, who were not approved by the Police Headquarter, at a higher rate than what was fixed by the Police Headquarter without inviting tenders. The articles purchased were sub-standard and poor in quality and Mr. Joshi fraudulently obtained allotment upto the tune of rupees 44 lacs by making false representation to the Police Headquarter.

5. Petitioner Ram Harsh Das at the relevant time was posted as A.I.G. (C) and he was not named in the first information report.

6. As stated above, petitioner Ajit Dutt is facing prosecution in R.C. Case No.45 of 1986 and at the relevant time, he was posted as the Superintendent of Police, Biharsharif at Nalanda from August 1981 to March 6, 1984. The allegation against him was that he purchased items of centralised list, which he was not authorised to purchase. The purchases were made at higher rate from non-approved contractors or