JUDGMENT

Anoop Chitkara, J.

Seeking quashing of FIR, captioned above, registered for forgery of the passport, and using the said forged passport as a genuine document by impersonating another person, the petitioner-accused has come up before this court under Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (CrPC).

2. Petitioner's grudge is that initially, he was arrested by the Narcotic Control Bureau, Chandigarh (NCB) under Section 21 NDPS Act on 30.11.2007, and at that time, the factum of forged passport was very much in the knowledge of the concerned officers of NCB, but they did not take any action. After a much belated stage, i.e., after about 12 years, they lodged the present FIR and want to prosecute him for the abovesaid offence. The petitioner has stated that in the Jamatalashi form, only the number of the fabricated passport was mentioned and not the passport itself. Even the Ministry of External Affairs needed to verify the passport's authenticity. The petitioner further submitted that the petitioner was convicted under Section 21 NDPS Act vide order dated 28.1.2012 passed by Special Judge, Chandigarh, and was sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for 15 years along with a fine. He challenged the said order in High Court, after which his sentence was reduced to 10 years, and now, his sentence is over. However, intending to detain the petitioner further, the NCB has come up with the present FIR, saying that the passport was forged. It amounts to double jeopardy or the waiver and cannot be prosecuted in part for the offence, which was knowingly left in 2007. Instead of prosecuting themselves, they connived with UT Chandigarh to register the present FIR.

3. In the reply filed by the UT Chandigarh, the conviction and reduction of sentence to 10 years by the High Court remains undisputed. It is also undisputed that the sentence of the petitioner in the said case was over, and it was only when the deportation formalities of the petitioner were being completed, at that time, that the Government came to know about the forgery of the passport. It would be proper to refer to relevant paragraphs of the reply, which read as under: -

"2. That the reduction warrant in view of judgement dated 16/08/2013 of the Hon'ble High Court, Chandigarh was received on 22/08/2013. The jail authority has further informed that the petitioner Festus Benson Onwuchuruba has completed his substantive sentence on 02/12/2017 and now serving sentence in lieu of fine since 03/12/2017. It was further informed that the petitioner is ready to pay the fine as and when his deportation formalities are completed. In this regard, a letter was received from the Consular, High Commission of Nigeria, New Delhi dated 17/07/2018, wherein it was informed to the office that the petitioner is Bonafide Nigerian citizen, and enclosed related document of his Nigerian nationality with the request to deport him to Nigeria.

3. That the matter was taken up with the Narcotics Control Bureau Chandigarh Zonal Unit Govt. of India, MHA, Sector 25(West), - Chandigarh, with request to send comments/report in this case and also confirm whether any passport other document of identity in respect of petitioner was taken into possession by the NCB at the time of his arrest in the above cited case. In response to the aforesaid said reference the NCB Authority, Chandigarh Zonal Unit, informed the office that the petitioner is not required in any other case of NCB, further mentioned that his passport bearing No 83691 was taken into possession during Jama talashi after his arrest and enclosed certified copy of aforesaid Burundi Passport No