ANOOP CHITKARA, J.

Aggrieved by the registration of FIR captioned above, the accused has come up before this Court under Section 482 CrPC for its quashing on the grounds that it is politically motivated, and even if all the allegations are taken as truth, still no case is made out for to launch prosecution and despite that the State went on to prosecute him for ulterior motives.

2. The prosecution’s case is that the second respondent-M/s Friends and Company, had got an allotment/contract of mining Block No.5 comprising some mining sites in districts of Kapurthala, Tarn Taran, and Jalandhar by way of e-auction in July 2019. Mining was to desilt without causing loss to the environment and to be carried out strictly as per the rules, in the area commonly known as Wazir Bhullar. As per the State, the allotment was specifically for desilting in the said area.

3. On June 30, 2021, M/s Friends and Company made a complaint to the Senior Superintendent of Police, Amritsar (Rural), alleging that the petitioner and other coaccused, namely Virsa Singh Valtoha, Amarpal Singh Bony Ajnala and other members of Shiromani Akali Dal, had threatened their staff and employees; obstructed and interfered in their legal mining operations and desilting sites in Village Wazir Bhullar, District Amritsar. The complainant mentioned the grant of the contract, which is irrelevant because it is not a matter of dispute. Based on the complaint, the police registered FIR, as captioned above.

4. A perusal of the FIR reveals that the complainant had alleged that on 30.06.2021, Shri Sukhbir Singh Badal, President of Shiromani Akali Dal, had threatened the employees and obstructed to gain cheap publicity for the assembly elections, which were scheduled at that time in the State of Punjab. Due to intimidation, the company employees ran away from the spot to save their lives. The accused persons also misled the local people by declaring that the mining undertaken by the complainant (second respondent) was illegal, and thus, they also tarnished the image of their company. They squarely blamed the petitioner as the person at whose behest the said attempt was made to stop the legal mining operations. After registration of the FIR, the police started an investigation and recorded statements of Preet Singh, who stated that he was working as a cashier in the company, and stated that the petitioner-Shri Sukhbir Singh Badal (President of Shiromani Akali Dal), along with Virsa Singh Valtoha, Amarpal Singh Bony Ajnala along with around 200 supporters had reached the mining place and stopped the mining trucks of their company by saying that mining activities are illegal. They also raised a commotion, and despite being clarified by the company’s employees that the mining was being conducted based on a contract given by the government, they did not stop and created a nuisance and ruckus.

5. The statement of the complainant’s witnesses namely Amarjeet Singh, Jagpreet Singh, Mahaveer Singh, and Prabhjot Singh were also recorded, which, apart from reiterating the relevant facts, also added another factor that the petitioner and his supporters were not wearing masks.

6. To verify whether the mining operation was legal, the investigator recorded the statement of the concerned Patwari, SDO, and Executive Engineers. After the conclusion of the investigation, the State launched prosecution against thirteen persons out of the alleged crowd of around two-hundred persons.

7. Aggrieved by the launching of the prosecution, the petitioner had come up before this Court by filing the present petition for quashing the FIR and the police report (Challan).

8. The state has filed a detailed response to the petition, in which their speci