ORDER :

1. All these three Crl. M.C. have been preferred to quash F.I.R. in V.C. No. 06/2022/TSR of VACB, Thrissur.

2. The petitioners are the accused Nos. 1, 2 and 5 to 10. The offences alleged are punishable under Sections 13(2) r/w 13(1)(d) (i, ii, iii) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 and Section 7 of the Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Act 2018, along with Section 120B of the Indian Penal Code, 1860.

3. The accused No. 1 is the Taluk Land Board Chairman and Deputy Collector (LR), Thrissur. The accused No. 2 is the Tahsildar, Thrissur Taluk, who is the Ex-officio member of the Taluk Board. The accused Nos. 3 and 4 are Taluk Land Board members, Thrissur Taluk. The accused No. 5 is the managing director, and the accused Nos. 6 to 10 are the directors of M/s. Thomson Granites Pvt. Ltd. (for short ‘the Company’) a private limited company registered under the Indian Companies Act engaged in the quarrying business. The accused No. 11 is described as ‘Public servants in various departments’.

4. The prosecution case, in short, is that the accused Nos. 5 to 11 conspired together since 2003 to undertake mining activity illegally in 19.0938 hectares of assigned forest land at Ol