Under CrPC 156(3) pre-cognizance, Magistrate assesses prima facie case solely from complaint; cannot rely on police report. Pre-BNSS applications proceed under CrPC savings clause (BNSS 531).

JUDGMENT :

VIRENDER SINGH, J.

1. Petitioner has filed the present petition, under Section 438 and 442 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (hereinafter referred to as ‘BNSS’) read with Section 528 of the , against the order dated 2.4.2025, passed by the Court of learned Judicial Magistrate First Class, Kangra at Dharamshala, (hereinafter referred to as ‘the trial Court’) in Cr. MA No. 506 of 2024, titled as Keshav Dutt Shridhar vs. Kamlesh Kumar and Others .

2. By way of the order dated 2.4.2025, the learned trial Court has dismissed the application preferred, by the petitioner, under Section 156(3) Cr.PC, seeking registration of FIR, against respondents No.1 and 2.

3. Vide order dated 01.08.2025, the State has been ordered to be impleaded, as, respondent No.3, in this case, and notice of the petition was ordered to be confined only to respondent No.3-State.

4. Record of the case has been requisitioned.

5. The parties to the present lis are hereinafter referred to, in the same manner, as, were referred to, by the learned trial Court.

6. Brief facts, leading to filing the present petition, before this Court, as, emerge from the record, may be summed up, as under:-

6.1. Complainant Keshav Dutt Shreedhar, has filed an application, under Section 156(3) of the Cr.PC, for registration of the FIR, against respondents No.1 and 2, Kamlesh Kumar Sharma and Nishant Sharma, on the basis of the following facts:-

1. That the complainant is a practising Lawyer of more that forty-40 years of practise and experience and is a designated Senior Advocate of High Court of H.P. at Shimla.
That he has his permanent address as mentioned in the memo of the complaint/application.
2. That, he is as well a director and shareholder in M/S Shri Chamunda Laboratories and Projects Pvt. Ltd. With Regd. Office at A-1/228, Ground Floor, KH No. 1629/1, Phase V, Aya Nagar, Extension, Near Sanjay Tubewell New Delhi- 110047.
3. That, it is worthwhile to mention that Shri Chamunda Laboratories and Projects Pvt. Ltd, is a company incorporated under the relevant provisions of the companies Act having its registered office at A-1/228, Ground Floor, KH No. 1629/1, Phase V, Aya Nagar, Extension, Near Sanjay Tubewell, New Delhi-110047. That the respondent-accused Nos. 1& 2 are the Directors and Shareholders in the company and respondent/accused no. 1 is the father of the accused no. 2.
4. That the complainant/applicant came in contact with the respondents/accused nos. 1 & 2 sometime in the years 2004. That the respondent/accused nos. 1 & 2 in their capacity as Directors of the company represented that the company was engaged in the hospitality business in Himachal Pradesh and successfully running a Hotel under the name and style of Hotel Sai Gardens at Palampur, now having 57 rooms/cottages, restaurants and Banquet.
This, company, as aforestated somewhere in the year 2010, also built a Mega Mall which constituted a commercial space i.e. 23000 sq. feet at Bhagsu Nath, Upper Dharamshala. That due to various circumstances and assurance, which later turned out to be false and misleading and completely incorrect, the applicant/complainant agreed to invest in the company and became a 50% shareholder in the company.
5. That the applicant/complainant besides becoming 50% owner of the company was also offered a seat in the board of the company. That the applicant