2026:CGHC:2408-DB Digitally signed by ANURADHA NAFR ANURADHA TIWARI TIWARI Date:

2026.01.15

17:05:03 +0530 HIGH COURT OF CHHATTISGARH AT BILASPUR CRMP No. 887 of 2024 Ramkhilawan S/o Late Makrudas Tandon Aged About 46 Years R/o Vil- lage Thelkadih, Tehsil Khairagarh, District Khairagarh- Chuikhadan-

Gandai, Chhattisgarh.

... Petitioner versus

1 – State of Chhattisgarh Through Station House Officer, Police Station Khairagarh, District- Khairagarh-Chuikhadan-Gandai, Chhattisgarh.

2 - Ajay Sharma S/o K.N. Sharma R/o Mig- 2/206, Aamdi Nagar, Hudco, Bhilai Nagar, District- Durg, Chhattisgarh.

... Respondents (Cause-title taken from Case Information System)

Order on Board

Per Ramesh Sinha, Chief Justice

15.01.2026

1 Heard Mr. Siddharth Pandey, learned counsel for the petitioner as well as Mr. Sourabh Sahu, learned Panel Lawyer, appearing for the State/respondent No.1 and Mr. Anshul Tiwari, learned counsel for respondent No.2.

2 The petitioner has filed the instant petition with the following reliefs :-

“The Petitioner humbly and most respectfully prays that the Hon'ble court may kindly be please to quash First Information Report no. 175/2018 registered at Police station Khairagarh, District Khairagarh-Chuikhadan-Gandai and Chargesheet bearing no. 158/2018 dated 17/08/2018 and order framing charges dated 12/02/2024 and all consequential criminal proceedings in criminal case no. 593/2018 pending before Chief Judicial Magistrate Khairagarh (C.G) may kindly also be quashed in the interest of Justice.”

3 Brief facts of the case, are that on 13.06.2018, the complainant, upon visiting the disputed land, alleged that the wire fencing had been broken and the name plate painted black, and on the basis of hearsay attributed the act to the petitioner, Ram Khilawan Tandon. Consequently, FIR No. 175/2018 dated 14.06.2018 was registered at Police Station Khairagarh for offences under Sections 427 and 447 IPC. Pursuant thereto, Charge-sheet No. 158/2018 dated 17.08.2018 was filed and charges were framed by the Trial Court on 12.02.2024.

4 The petitioner contends that the FIR and subsequent proceedings are false, vexatious, and an abuse of the criminal process, initiated solely to exert pressure upon him in a long-standing civil dispute concerning ancestral agricultural land bearing Khasra No.

117 (old Khasra No. 94), admeasuring 4.70 acres, situated at Village Thelkadih, Tehsil Khairagarh. The petitioner and his ancestors have been in continuous possession and cultivation of the said land since 1956–57, which is duly reflected in revenue records and supported by possession certificates issued by the Gram Panchayat and complaints made by the Panchayat to the Tehsildar acknowledging such possession.

5 It is further asserted that the complainant has repeatedly attempted to dispossess the petitioner by initiating criminal proceedings on identical facts. Earlier FIRs bearing Nos. 490/2014 (under Section 447 IPC) and 491/2014 (under Section 188 IPC) resulted in acquittal of the petitioner by judgments dated 07.02.2020. Proceedings initiated by the complainant under Section 250 of the Land Revenue Code were also stayed by this Hon’ble Court vide order dated 16.08.2021 in WPC No.

3318/2021.

6 A civil suit concerning declaration of title and possession and for declaring the sale deed null and void, though dismissed on 26.10.2023, is presently under consideration in First Appeal No. 25/2023. Thus, the present prosecution is nothing but an attempt to give a criminal colour to a purely civil dispute and to harass the petitioner into surrendering his ancestral property.

7 Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that the impugned FIR has been manifestly lodged with mala fide intention and the criminal proceedings have been ma