T. Vaiphei, J.

1. This batch of criminal petitions under Section 482 Cr PC involving a common question of law were taken up for joint hearing and are now being disposed of by this common judgment. For the sake of convenience, I will first decide Criminal Petition No. 66(SH) of 2011 and thereafter apply my decision thereon, so far as possible, to the facts of the remaining criminal petitions. The petitioner in Criminal Petition No. 66(SH) of 2011 is currently serving as Chief Manager of Vijaya Bank at Hanumantha Nagar Branch, Bangalore, and was at the relevant time posted at the Shillong Branch of the Bank in the same capacity. Sometime in the month of September, 2011, the respondent filed a complaint petition against the petitioner and three other persons before the learned Chief Judicial Magistrate, Shillong, inter alia, alleging that:-

(a) Vijaya Bank, which is arraigned as the accused No. 1 in the criminal complaint, launched the Jeevan Nidhi Deposit Scheme whereby an authorized Jeevan Nidhi agent collects money from a person, who wishes to deposit at his doorstep.

(b) An individual can choose a deposit period of 12 or 39 or 63 months, with a daily deposit, as low as Rs. 1/