1. The petitioner is the accused in Crime No.75 of 2013 of the Kadampuzha Police Station registered at the instance of the 2nd respondent herein alleging offences punishable under Section 406 and 420 of the IPC. In this petition filed under Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, the petitioner seeks to quash Annexure-A1 FIR on the ground that the continuance of criminal proceeding is an abuse of process.

2. To appreciate the contentions advanced, a brief reference to the allegations raised in the FI Statement will be apposite.

3. According to the 2nd respondent, he is engaged in running laterite quarries. On 30.1.2013, he entered into an agreement with the petitioner, on the strength of which he was permitted to extract laterite from an item of property having an extent of 35 cents belonging to the petitioner. Consideration was fixed at Rs.35,000/- per cent and an advance amount of Rs.6,00,000/- was handed over to the petitioner. The relevant revenue records were handed over to the 2nd respondent for securing a quarrying permit. When the petitioner was asked to secure consent from the neighboring property owners he vacillated and asked for time till the rain sets in. W