No prima facie case established for offences of cheating or criminal breach of trust under IPC; petitions allowed and FIR quashed.

ORAL ORDER

The petitioners in both these cases are accused Nos.1 and

2 in a solitary crime in Crime No.151/2023 registered on 12.07.2023, for the offences punishable under Sections 406 , 420, 465 and 468 of the IPC and under Sections 3(1)(f), 3(1)(z) of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 ('the Atrocities Act' for short).

2. Heard Sri. Chokkareddy, learned counsel appearing for the petitioners, Sri. K. Nageshwarappa, learned HCGP appearing for respondent No.1 and Sri. Nagaraj D., learned counsel appearing for respondent No.2, in both these cases.

3. Facts adumbrated are as follows:

3.1. Accused No.2 is the General Power of Attorney holder for the 2^nd respondent - complainant and their family members. The family of respondent No.2 was granted land for them belonging to scheduled caste, in the year 1994, with a rider of non-alienation for a period of 15 years. Notwithstanding the non-alienation clause, it transpires that the land was sold in the year 2003, which becomes the subject matter of challenge before the Assistant Commissioner, who annuls the sale on the score that it was sold prior to the expiry of the non-alienation as obtaining in the Saguvali Chit. Thus ends the first sale. The non-alienation comes to an end in the year 2009. Then comes the second transaction, in which, the petitioners come into the picture.

3.2. The second respondent then executes a General Power of Attorney with full consideration in an Agreement of Sale to accused No.2, who is the petitioner in the companion petition. Ten years later, on 21.12.2022, an application is filed seeking permission to enter into a Sale Deed with the grantee - the complainant. The permission is granted on 21.06.2023. The complainant is then allotted a land in Madhugiri to the extent of 34 guntas as against 30 guntas of land, which became the subject matter of the Sale Deed, in terms of what was noticed by the Deputy Commissioner. The complainant then registers a complaint on 12.07.2023, after the sale of the property by the petitioner in the companion petition to one Sri. Chikkanna on 21.06.2023, which becomes a crime in Crime No.151/2023 for the aforesaid offences.

4. Learned counsel, Sri. Chokkareddy, appearing for the petitioners, would take this Court through the documents appended to the petition to demonstrate that the complainant - grantee appears before the Sub-Registrar, and enters into an Agreement of Sale. All these proceedings are before the Deputy Commissioner. The Deputy Commissioner notices every transaction between the parties and observes that land in a particular place in Madhugiri Taluk should be sold in favour of the complainant by the petitioner in the companion petition as a condition precedent for granting permission to enter into a sale with the petitioner in the companion petition by the complainant. Pursuant to this, the petitioner in the companion petition and the complainant have executed a Sale Deed for the said land. These orders are not under challenge, but what comes about is the registration of the impugned crime. He would submit that if further investigation is permitted in the cases at hand, it would become an abuse of the process of the law.

5. Learned counsel, Sri. Nagaraj D., representing the 2^nd respondent - complainant would vehemently refute the submission in contending that the petitioners have forged the thumb impression of the complainant and have sought permission fraudulently at the hands of the Deputy Commissioner. Therefore, the ingredients of the offences punishable under sections 406 and 420 of the IPC are clearly met along with the offence of forgery. He would submit that is for the petitioners to come out clean in the investigation or in a full blown trial. Learned counsel further submits that the land which is granted to the petitioner in the companion petition as a condition precedent for granting permission is somewhere in the corners of Madhugiri Town and the land that is now given