IN THE HIGH COURT OF MADHYA PRADESH AT INDORE BEFORE HON'BLE SHRI JUSTICE SANJEEV S KALGAONKAR

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ON THE 18 OF NOVEMBER, 2025 MISC. CRIMINAL CASE No. 48689 of 2025 SONU Versus THE STATE OF MADHYA PRADESH Appearance:

Shri Manish Yadav- Advocate for the applicant.

Shri Amit Rawal- GA for the State.

ORDER

1. The petitioner under section 528 of the BNSS, 2023 has been filed by the petitioner feeling aggrieved by the order dated 06/10/2025 passed by First Additional Sessions Judge, Narsinghgarh, District – Rajgarh in S.T. no. 258/2025, whereby the application for release of seized gold and silver jewellery articles was dismissed.

2 The exposition of fact giving rise to present petition, in brief, is as under:-

A. Sub-Inspector Dharmendra Sharma reported to the Police Station – Boda, District – Rajgarh that they have conducted a raid at the house of suspect Sonu and Ravi @ Kala @ Kamlesh in relation to Crime no. 5 of 2025 registered at Police Station – Civil Line, Bhatinda ( Punjab) for offence punishable under sections 305 and 331 of the BNS, 2023. The suspect Sonu, Ravi @ Kala and their family members Heena, wife of Solu, Rajkumari, mother of Sonu and Kalawati, mother-in-law of Sonu started interfering in performance of public duties by police officials and abused the police officials in filthy language. Sonu and Ravi escaped taking benefit of crowd. During search of the house of Sonu, the gold and silver jewellery articles were recovered. No bills or documents with regard to possession of gold and silver jewellery articles were found, therefore, suspecting the jewellery as articles of theft, they were seized under section 35 (1)(2) of the BNSS, 2023. The Police Station – Boda, District – Rajgarh registered FIR for offence punishable under sections 296, 191(2), 132, 303(2) of the BNS, 2023 and section 35(1)(2) of the BNSS, 2023 against Sonu, Ravi @ Kala @ Kamlesh, Heena, Rajkumari, Kalawati and other unknown offenders. Sonu, Ravi, Heena, Rajkumari and Kalawati were arrested. The statement of the witnesses were recorded. Certain documents were produced on behalf of the accused, which were verified from the concerned jewellers. Although the jewellers had verified the bills, but it suspected by the Investigation Officer, as no regular bills or carbon copy of the bills were available with the jewellers. The final report was submitted on completion of investigation on 10/07/2025 against Sonu, Ravi @ Kala @ Kamlesh, Heena, Rajkumari and Kalawati for offence punishable under sections 296, 191(2), 132, 303(2), 317(2) and

317(4) of the BNS, 2023.

3. Learned counsel for the petitioner, in addition to the grounds mentioned in the petition contends that the petitioner is falsely implicated in the alleged offence to justify the wrongful acts of police officials. No one has ever claimed ownership of the seized jewellery articles. The petitioner is rightful owner of the jewellery articles. The trial Court has committed error in rejecting the application for release of gold and silver jewellery articles on Supurdagi.

4. Section 314 of the BNS, 2023 deals with dishonest misappropriation of property. Section 317 of the BNS, 2023 deals with offence relating to stolen property. For constituting these offences, there must be a rightful owner / possessor of the property alleged to be misappropriated or stolen.

5. Shri Rakesh Sharma, SDO(P), Biora, the Investigation Officer appeared before the Court, but he was at loss to explain the investigation with regard to rightful owner of the property. He fairly stated that he could not trace any complainant, who has alleged that the seized gold and silver jewellery articles were stolen from his possession or he had handed over the custody of the seized articles and they were misappropriated. The trial Court has ignored this important aspect of the matter.

6. The police station – Boda sought verification of the bills from the concerned jeweller. They have verified the bills, but verification report was suspected by the Inv