IMPORTANT POINT
The court established that the right to a fair investigation is fundamental, and when there are serious allegations of police misconduct, it may necessitate the transfer of the investigation to an independent agency like the CBI.

ORDER :

Farjand Ali, J.

“I am for truth, no matter who tell it. I am for justice, no matter who it’s for or against.” – Malcom X

1. By way of filing these two miscellaneous petitions, the petitioner has sought indulgence of this Court for exercising extraordinary jurisdiction so as to quash FIR No. 33/2024 for the offences under Sections 406, 420, 120-B, 467, 468 and 471 of the IPC and FIR No.34/2024 lodged at Banswara Police Station, District Banswara for the offences under Sections 406, 420, 120-B, 467, 468, 474 and 471 of the IPC.

2. Since the present case has a chequered history, the same calls for production of facts in detail and thus, the same are elaborated in the succeeding paragraphs:

(i)The petitioner is a professional sub-broker having a license bearing No. AP2486002701. He facilitates interested persons in building their investment portfolios by way of online or offline trading platforms such as mobile apps or web-based platforms, providing back-office support such as account opening, KYC verification, fund transfer, settlement etc. and assist them in investing as per the latest market trends. The petitioner, thus, acts as an intermediatory between the registered stock-broker companies or brokerage firms and its investors or clients. The petitioner earns his commission from the brokerage generated by the money invested by the clients of the broker company. The petitioner is also a registered investor himself and is the sub-broker of M/s Choice Equity Broking Company Limited and has thus invested huge amount in different channels. Eventually, his account was blocked illegally and his broking account was seized. It was revealed that all his invested money alongwith the brokerage commission money has been siphoned off. Several representations were made by the petitioner to the concerned persons but to no avail.

(ii) In this light, the petitioner went to lodge an FIR in the concerned police station. However, the matter was refused to be lodged by the concerned police officials. The FIR bearing No. 1/2024 dated 25.01.2024 at Cyber Police Station, District Banwara, for offence under sections 420, 467, 468, 471, 406 of the IPC and Sections 66(C) & 66(D) of the IT Act could only be registered after an order of the concerned court under section 156(3) of the CrPC. As per the guidelines contained in the case titled “Lalita Kumari vs. Government of Uttar Pradesh & Ors. on 12 November, 2013 AIR 2014 SC 187”, the Apex Court held that the word ‘shall’ be used in Section 154(1) of the CrPC, is mandatory which shows the intention of the legislation and states that the police are bound to register an FIR if the information regarding the commission of a cognizable offence is received. Nevertheless, the investigation in the FIR No. 1/2024 had commenced and during the course of the investigation, the accounts of the said companies were directed to be frozen.. Before this event, a part of the amount to the tune of Rs. 97 lacs, invested by the petitioner in the said companies, was directed to be returned in the bank account of the petitioner in pursuance of the order passed by the competent court. Eventually, the investigation while at its peak, was suddenly put to an end, causing stalling of the entire proceedings. The petitioner was threatened to withdraw the case and the Investigating Officer the then Additional Superintendent of Police Kan Singh Bhati and the Superintendent of Police Abhijeet Singh refused to take any action in the said FIR.

(iii) In light of the above-mentioned aspects, this Court considers it necessary to dive deep and hence, the question arises as to:

(a) Whether the Investigation Officer Addl. S.P. Kan Singh Bhati and Superintendent of Police Abhijeet Singh were dutiful in stalling the entire investigation proceedings, which was almost at the verge of its conclusion, emanating out of the FIR No.1/2024 lodged at Police Station Cyber, District Banswara.

(b) On furnishing information that the petitioner was threatened by a