The court emphasized that personal liberty must be carefully balanced against the necessity of criminal proceedings, rejecting hasty issuance of non-bailable warrants absent compelling reasons.

JUDGMENT :

SASHIKANTA MISHRA, J.

The petitioner No.1, M/s. Eden Infraprojects Private Limited is a Company incorporated under the Companies Act, 2013 based at Kolkata and is represented by its Director, who is the petitioner No.2. The petitioner No.3 is another Director of the Company. All the three petitioners are accused in SPE No. 5 of 2014 pending in the Court of leaned Special C.J.M.(C.B.I.), Bhubaneswar for the alleged commission of offence under Sections 420 /409/120-B of IPC read with Section 3 and 4 of Prize Chits and Money Circulation Schemes (Banning) Act, 1978 (for short “the PCMCS Act”). In the present application filed under Section 482 Cr.P.C., the petitioners pray for quashment of the above mentioned criminal proceedings along with orders dated 27.12.2022, 06.01.2023, 20.01.2023 and 03.02.2023 passed by the Court below in issuing NBW/A.

2. The brief facts, relevant only to decide the present application are that an FIR was lodged on 15.05.2013 in Baliapal Police Station by Sri Sumanath Sahu, S.I. of Police of Baliapal Police Station alleging that a non-banking financial company, namely, Tower Infotech Ltd., located at Baliapal has been collecting public deposits throughout Odisha by alluring depositors with promise of high rate of interest. Colourful brochures were printed by the Company to attract the general public to invest with false impression that it is running on profits. Enquiry revealed that the Company is not a listed company with either Reserve Bank of India as NBFC or in National Stock Exchange of India. Thus, its activities were completely illegal. Basing on such report, Baliapal P.S. Case No. 85 of 2013 was registered against the Managing Director, Ramendu Chattopadhyaya and seven other officials of the Company under Sections 420 /120-B/34 of IPC read with Sections 4 , 5 and 6 of the PCMCS Act. In course of investigation, the Supreme Court of India in the case of Subrata Chattoraj vs. Union of India in its order dated 09.05.2014 directed the CBI to register a criminal case against the chit fund companies under the relevant provisions of and other laws. Accordingly, the CBI registered an FIR vide Case No. RC- 10(S)/201/CBI/SCB/Kol. dated 04.06.2014 against the Company, Tower Infotech Ltd. and several persons associated with it treating Baliapal Police Station Case No. 85 of 2013 as the base case. Eventually the said case was registered as Special Case No. 5 of 2014 in the Court below, in which supplementary charge sheet was submitted by the CBI keeping investigation open under Section 173 (8) of Cr.P.C.. In course of investigation by CBI, the complicity of the petitioner No.1, Company and its officials having surfaced, notices were issued by the CBI to its Directors to produce documents. It was revealed that Tower Group of Companies offered to invest Rs.10 Crores in a township project at a place called, Maheshtala in Kolkata, pursuant to which it paid a sum of Rs.250 Lakhs on different dates to the petitioner No.1 Company.

3. The matter being further investigated final charge sheet was also submitted on 26.12.2022 for the aforesaid offences. While the petitioner No.2 was not arrested during investigation, petitioner No.3 was described as absconder in the supplementary charge sheet. By order dated 10.01.2017, cognizance of the offences was taken. By further order dated 27.12.2022, summons was issued by the Court below to several accused persons including petitioner No.2 and NBW was issued against petitioner No.3 and another accused person. At this stage, the petitioners have approa