JUDGMENT :

(Bibek Chaudhuri, J.) : –

1. This criminal revision arises out of an application filed by the accused persons/petitioners under Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (hereafter described as ‘the Code’) praying for quashing of FIR filed by the opposite party No.2 as the defacto complainant that gave rise to Dum Dum P.S Case No.821 of 2017 dated 17th August, 2017 under Section 306/34 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

2. The opposite party No.2 was served notice of the instant revision time and again but she preferred not to take part in the hearing of the matter. Vide order dated 5th March, 2020, a Coordinate Bench of this Court accepted service upon the opposite party No.2 and fixed the matter for hearing under the heading ‘Contested Application’. Even thereafter series of orders were passed for service upon the opposite party No.2 and such directions were duly complied with by the petitioners, but appearance of the defacto complainant cannot be ensured.

3. Though the instant application was filed by the petitioners praying for quashing of a criminal case instituted against them, this Court at the time of hearing finds that the chain of events leading to the filing of F.I.R under Section 154 of the Code by the defacto complainant and consequent investigation by police are shrouded with bona fide suspicion and reasonable doubt involving wide ramification in the administration of justice, persuading the Court to adjudicate the issue in hand under the touchstone of the basic requirement of investigation of a criminal case to establish the truth behind commission of an offence. As observed by the Hon’ble Supreme Court in Pooja Pal vs. Union of India and Ors : (2016) 3 SCC 135, “As the cause of justice has to reign Supreme, a Court of law cannot reduce itself to be a resigned and a helpless spectator and with the foreseen consequences apparently unjust, in the face of faulty investigation, meekly complete the formalities to record a foregone conclusion. Justice then would become a casualty.”

4. Now, the facts. The defacto complainant is the daughter of one Dr. Anindita Bhattacharrya, since deceased. On 17th August, 2017, she got a telephonic information from Dum Dum Police Station that her mother had committed suicide in a room which was under tenancy of the petitioner No.1. She lodged a written complaint alleging, inter alia, that the petitioner No.1 developed illicit relationship with her mother with the sole motive to squeeze huge amount of money from her. The mother of the complainant did not keep any relation with her and her father for one and half years prior to her unnatural death. Few days prior to her death, she demanded huge sum of money from her husband, i.e, the father of the defacto complainant. It was also alleged that the petitioner No.1 took huge sum of money from her mother putting illegal pressure upon her. He and his wife (petitioner No.2) forced the deceased to stop all communication with the defacto complainant for about a week prior to her death. Finally, failing to bear such pressure and torture inflicted upon her allegedly by the petitioners, the mother of the defacto complainant committed suicide.

5. The above narration is the gist of the written complaint made by the opposite party No.2 on 17th August, 2017 with the Officer-in-Charge of Dum Dum P.S. On the basis of the said complaint police registered Dum Dum P.S Case No.821 of 2017 under Section 306/34 of the IPC against the petitioners and the case was endorsed to S.I Naru Gopal Chakraborty for investigation. The record shows that investigation of the case ended in filing charge sheet against the petitioners under Section 306/34 of the IPC in the Court of learned Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate, Barrackpore, North 24 Parganas.

6. Chapter XII of the Code deals with the provisions relating to “Information to the Police and Their Powers to Investigate.” Under Chapter XII of the Code, the investigating authority has to proceed only on the info