By the Court:-

Heard the parties.

2. This Criminal Miscellaneous Petition has been filed invoking the jurisdiction of this Court under Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 with the prayer to quash the entire prosecution arising out of Dhanbad P.S. Case No.237 of 2020 on the ground that for the same offence, earlier Dhanbad P.S. Case No.123 of 2019 having been lodged, this F.I.R. is the second F.I.R. in respect of the same occurrence.

3. The brief facts of the case is that the F.I.R. relating to the present case i.e., Dhanbad P.S. Case No.237 of 2020 has been instituted on the basis of the written-report submitted by the Deputy Municipal Commissioner with present post Deputy Administrator, Dhanbad Municipal Corporation alleging therein that the Joint Secretary in the Urban Development and Housing Department of the Government of Jharkhand has intimated to lodge separate First Information Reports in respect of the irregularities committed in supply of the computer peripherals and other instruments for the E-Governance work of the Dhanbad Municipal Corporation. Hence, this F.I.R. has been registered in respect of the petitioner being the Assistant-cum-Accountant of Dhanbad Municipal Corporation, at the relevant time; on the basis of the written report submitted by the Special Allocation Officer, Dhanbad Municipal Corporation, wherein it has been mentioned that Manish Kumar- who was the Urban Reforms Specialist of the Dhanbad Municipal Corporation, paid Rs.8,28,97,418/- to M/s Vayam Technologies Ltd. and the role played by the petitioner therein is that at the relevant time, the petitioner being the accountant, without matching the peripherals with the bills, hastily produced the file for payment.

4. Learned counsel for the petitioner draws the attention of this Court towards page-6 of the Supplementary Affidavit dated 21.10.2020 and submits that the same is the copy of the certified copy of the F.I.R. of Dhanbad P.S. Case No.123 of 2019 and the said F.I.R. has been registered against Manish Kumar- Urban Reforms Specialist for having embezzled Government money by way of cheating and committing forgery for the purpose of cheating by using forged documents as genuine by making excess payment of Rs.2,65,04,668/- to M/s Vayam Technologies Ltd. It is next submitted that a co-ordinate Bench of this Court in the case of Md. Ishtiaque @ Lalo vs. The State of Jharkhand passed in Cr.M.P. No.2196 of 2018 dated 30.06.2020 relied upon the judgment of the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India in the case of T. T. Antony vs. State of Kerela reported in (2001) 6 SCC 181 and on the case of Babu Bhai vs. State of Gujarat & Others reported in (2010) 12 SCC 254 in support of the settled principle of law, that there can be no second F.I.R and no fresh investigation of every subsequent information in respect of the same cognizable offence, same occurrence or same incident, giving rise to one or more cognizable cases. It is further submitted that in this case though the F.I.R. has been registered but charge-sheet has not yet been submitted and though the State Urban Development Authority terminated the contract of the said M/s Vayam Technologies Ltd. but the said order was challenged by M/s Vayam Technologies Ltd. in W.P. (C) No.1036 of 2018 and the co-ordinate Bench of this Court has quashed the said termination of the contract and debarment of the contractor. It is further submitted that admittedly the F.I.R. has been registered because of some mistaken notion that separate F.I.R. is to be registered in respect of each of the involved officer or member of staff. Hence, it is submitted that the prayer, as prayed for in the instant Cr.M.P., be allowed.

5. Learned Addl. P. P. appearing for the State on the other hand vehemently opposes the prayer of the petitioner made in the instant Cr.M.P.

6. Having heard the rival submissions made at the Bar and after carefully going through the materials available in the record, it is pertin