2026:CGHC:8008-DB NAFR HIGH COURT OF CHHATTISGARH AT BILASPUR CRMP No. 728 of 2023

1 - Soumya Shanta Tripathy S/o Shishir Kant Tripathy Aged About 37 Years R/o 844/c/1 Balco Nagar, Korba, District- Korba, Chhattisgarh (At The Relevant Time Was Working As Head Operation Gap)

2 - B. Shivkumar S/o Shri U.S. Balsubramanyam Aged About 53 Years R/o D/14/ Sector-2 Balco, Korba, District- Korba, Chhattisgarh (At The Relevant Time Was Working As Head Hse Balco)

3 - Dilip Kumar Patel S/o Loman Chand Patel Aged About 39 Years R/o C-

406/1/ Balco, Korba, District- Korba, Chhattisgarh (At The Relevant Time Was Working As Head Maintenance Carbon)

4 - Uttam Kumar Nayak S/o Shyam Sunder Nayak Aged About 53 Years R/o 1/d/23 Balco Nagar, Korba, District- Korba, Chhattisgarh. At Present R/o Village Balyasara, Post Kabisuryanagar, District- Ganjam, Orissa. (At The Relevant Time Was Working As Sbo Head Karban)

5 - Rajesh Kumar Singh S/o Rajnarayan Singh Aged About 48 Years R/o D/8 Sector-2, Balco Nagar, Korba, District- Korba, Chhattisgarh (At The Relevant Time Was Working As Head Metal Balco)

... Petitioners versus VED PRAKASH 1 - State Of Chhattisgarh Through Police Station Balco, Korba, District-

DEWANGAN VED PRAKASH DEWANGAN Date: 2026.02.18

2 - Pradeep Nayak S/o Late Dhrut Charan Nayak Aged About 47 Years R/o R/48 Naga, Lig- 04, Phase- 2, Rampur, Korba, Chhattisgarh .............

Respondent/accused

3 - Himanshu Sharma S/o Anil Mkumar Sharma Aged About 31 Years R/o Sivlahri Hostel, Bamveda Gujarat. Permanent Address- Quarter No. 180 Jorapara, Sarkanda, Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh ................ Respondent/accused

4 - Praveen Kumar Kesari S/o Late Nandlal Kesari Aged About 49 Years R/o 602, Iceland 09 Royal Palm State, R.A. Colony Goregaon (East)

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

For Petitioners : Mr. Manoj Paranjpe, Senior Advocate along with Mr. Arpan Verma, Advocate For Respondent No.1/State : Mr. Shailendra Sharma, Panel Lawyer For Respondents No. 2 & 3 : Mr. Chandrikaditya Pandey, Advocate Hon'ble Shri Ramesh Sinha, Chief Justice Hon’ble Shri Ravindra Kumar Agrawal, Judge Judgment on Board Per Ramesh Sinha, Chief Justice

13/02/2026

1. This petition has been filed under Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 seeking quashment of the FIR dated 14.09.2022 bearing Crime No. 539/2022 registered at Police Station Balco, District Korba (C.G.) for the offence punishable under Section 304A of the Indian Penal Code, as well as the entire consequential proceedings arising therefrom, including Criminal Case No. 3632/2022 pending before the Court of Judicial Magistrate First Class, Korba. The petitioners contend that no specific allegation or overt act constituting rash or negligent conduct has been attributed to them in the FIR or the charge-sheet and that they have been arraigned as accused solely on account of the positions held by them at the relevant time, which, according to them, amounts to an abuse of the process of law.

2. The facts of the case as emerges from the pleadings of the petition are that, the petitioners, at the relevant point of time, were holding senior managerial positions in BALCO. Petitioner No.1 was working as Head GAP Operation; Petitioner No.2 as Head HSE (Health, Safety and Environment); Petitioner No.3 as Head Maintenance Carbon; Petitioner No.4 as SBU Head Carbon; and Petitioner No.5 as Head Metal. They were not directly engaged in the day-to-day operational supervision of the contractual workforce deployed in the Carbon Plant.

*******The prosecution case, as reflected in the FIR, is that on 14.02.2022 an accident occurred within the factory premises of BALCO resulting in the death of one Agas Ram Sahu. The deceased was working as a labourer and was engaged in maintenance work. It is an admitted position that the deceased was an employee of the contractor, namely Thyssen Krupp, which had been awarded a contract for maintenance activities in the Carbon Plant.

*******It has been alleged in the