O R D E R

Dated this the 28^th day of January, 2026 The petitioner is the 2^nd accused in S.T.No.35/2023 on the file of Judicial First Class Magistrate Court-II, Thodupuzha (‘Trial Court’, in short), which has been filed by the 2^nd respondent alleging the commission of an offence punishable under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act , 1881 (‘NI Act’, in short).

2. The petitioner has stated in Criminal Miscellaneous Case that he has not executed the cheque in question involved in the above complaint. In order to prove his assertion, he filed an application to compare the signature on the said cheque with that of his admitted signature. The application was allowed by the Trial Court, and the petitioner submitted his specimen signatures in Court, which were sent to the Forensic Science Laboratory, Thiruvananthapuram (‘FSL’, in short), for expert opinion. However, by letter dated 08.05.2025, the FSL reported that the petitioner’s signatures for the contemporaneous period of 2021 were necessary for an effective comparison. Immediately on receipt of the communication, petitioner filed another application to direct the Deputy Superintendent of Police, Crime Branch (‘DySP’), to pr