BEFORE THE MADURAI BENCH OF MADRAS HIGH COURT
K.MURALI SHANKAR, J.
Ranjith Soundarajan – Appellant
Versus
The State represented by The Inspector of Police – Respondent
CRL.R.C.(MD).85 of 2017
Decided on : 15-03-2021
Indian Penal Code, 1860 - Section 406 and 420 – Criminal Procedural Code, 1973 - Section 190 r/w 200, 156(3) , 190(1) (b) - Criminal Revision - Punishment for criminal breach of trust - Cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property - It is not in dispute that first respondent, after completion of investigation, has filed referred charge sheet as 'mistake of fact' before Court of Judicial Magistrate No.II, Dindigul, that on receipt of notice, revision petitioner has raised objections to negative report filed by police, by filing a protest petition and said petition was taken on file in Cr.M.P. and that learned Magistrate has passed the impugned order, closing protest petition and consequently, closing FIR in Crime as 'mistake of fact' - Aggrieved by said order, defacto complainant has come forward with present revision - Whether impugned order passed in Cr.M.P. in RCS., on file of Court of Judicial Magistrate No.II, is liable to be set aside – Held, As rightly contended by first respondent side, protest petition was filed and same is pending for past three years and as rightly observed by learned Magistrate, without any progress - Since defacto complainant has not turned up and as there was no representation for defacto complainant, trial Court with no other option has closed protest petition and consequently, closed FIR - It is pertinent to note that as already pointed out, Magistrate has given permission to defacto complainant to file a separate private complaint if it is necessary - As already pointed out, impugned order was passed and on that day itself, learned Magistrate has granted permission to file a separate complaint and as rightly contended by respondent side, Court is also at loss to understand as to why petitioner has come forward with present revision and to wait for past more than four years - Since learned Judicial Magistrate has granted permission to file a separate private complaint, action of learned Magistrate in closing protest petition and thereby closing FIR as mistake of fact, cannot be found fault with - Revision petitioner has not canvassed any other reason or ground to impugn the order - Criminal Revision case is dismissed.
ORDER :
The Criminal Revision Case is directed against the order passed in Cr.M.P.No.6852 of 2013 in R.C.S.No.156 of 2013, dated 13.07.2016 on the file of the Court of Judicial Magistrate No.II, Dindigul.
2. The revision petitioner, who is the defacto complainant, lodged a complaint against the second respondent herein with the first respondent police and on the basis of the said complaint, FIR came to be registered in Crime No. 48 of 2010 on the file of the first respondent police under Section 406 and 420 IPC.
3. It is not in dispute that the first respondent, after completion of investigation, has filed the referred charge sheet as 'mistake of fact' before the Court of Judicial Magistrate No.II, Dindigul, that on receipt of the notice, the revision petitioner has raised objections to the negative report filed by the police, by filing a protest petition and the said petition was taken on file in Cr.M.P.No.6852 of 2013 and that the learned Magistrate has passed the impugned order on 13.07.2016, closing the protest petition and consequently, closing the FIR in Crime No.48 of 2010 as 'mistake of fact'. Aggrieved by the said order, the defacto complainant has come forward with the present revision.
4. Whether the impugned order passed in Cr.M.P.No.6852 of 2013 in RCS.No.156 of 2013, dated 13.07.2016 on the file of the Court of Judicial Magistrate No.II, Dindigul, is liable to be set aside ? is the point for consideration.
5. Admittedly, the second respondent is the own sister of the revision petitioner. The revision petitioner has lodged a complaint alleging that as the Managing Director of Soundara Mills Private Limited, he entered into a slumsale agreement with the second respondent, who was the then Vice President of M/s.Soundaraja Sasha Industries Private Limited, for the purchase of the said industry for a sum of Rs.14 Crores, that the sale consideration was paid to the second respondent through bank transactions, that the petitioner was already having 53% of shares in the said industry, that to the petitioner's shock and surprise, the second respondent had clandestinely taken away a sum of Rs.10,59,08,041.02/- and misappropriated the same by misusing the relationship and that thereby, she committed breach of trust.
6. It is the specific case of the revision petitioner that the second respondent has filed a petition in Crl.O.P.No.12947 of 2010, for quashing the FIR in Crime No.48 of 2010 before this Court and the same was ordered to be dismissed on 04.03.2011, that the petitioner has appeared before the respondent police many times and submitted various documents, that the first respondent has not conducted the investigation properly and conducted one side investigation, that the first respondent has thereafter, filed the referred charge sheet as 'mistake of fact' and that therefore, the petitioner, on receipt of notice for filing the negative report, was forced to file the protest petition, now under challenge.
7. The learned Judicial Magistrate, by recording the absence of the defacto complainant and non representation and by observing that there was no progress on the side of the defacto complainant, closed the protest petition and thereby recorded the closure of the FIR as 'mistake of fact'. The learned Magistrate has further observed that the defacto complainant is permitted to file a separate private complaint, if it is necessary.
8. The learned counsel for the revision petitioner would contend that the learned Magistrate has committed an error in dismissing the protest petition for non prosecution and for the non appearance of counsel for one hearing, that it is the duty of the trial Court to issue summons to the petitioner in the event of his counsel failed to appear before the Court, that the learned Magistrate ought to have treated the protest petition as a private complaint, as contemplated under Section 190 r/w 200 Cr.P.C and ought to have proceeded in accordance with law, that the trial Court ought to have ordered furt
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