IN THE HIGH COURT OF MADHYA PRADESH AT Indore BEFORE HON'BLE SHRI JUSTICE SANJEEV S KALGAONKAR ON THE 2^nd OF FEBRUARY, 2026 MISC. CRIMINAL CASE No. 19924 of 2024 SHAHID KHAN Versus THE STATE OF MADHYA PRADESH Appearance:

Shri Shadab Khan- Advocate for the petitioner.

Shri Romil Verma – Govt. Advocate for the respondent/State.

ORDER

This petition under section 482 of Cr.P.C. has been filed for quashing of FIR pertaining to Crime No. 376/2018 registered by the Police Station, Station Road District – Ratlam for offence punishable under section(s)420, 467, 468, 471 and 120-B of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 and all other subsequent proceedings arising therefrom.

2. The exposition of facts, giving rise to the present petition, is as under:

(i) Suresh Chandra Vyas, Executive Engineer of Municipal Corporation, Distt. Ratlam submitted a written complaint alongwithinquiry report to the SHO, P.S. Station Road, Distt. Ratlam, inter-alias tating that the District Collector, Distt. Ratlam had approved 320 beneficiaries under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana. Deepak Kumawat, representative of CEDMAP Company, had manipulated the approved beneficiary list to add 13 names, who were ineligible to receive the Government aid under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana. The matter was enquired and it was found that Deepak Kumawat had added names of Mamta, Aakash, Jakir Hussain, Rahees Khan, AhteshamBano, Aashik, Shakeela Bano, Afroz Bi, Deepak, Nasir, Shahina, Naseem,Shahina Bi to wrongly benefit them as beneficiaries.

(ii) On such allegations, the P.S. Station Road, Ratlam registered FIR at Crime No. 376/2018 for offence punishable u/Ss 420, 467, 468 and 471 of IPC against Deepak Kumawat, employee of CEDMAP. During investigation, the ineligible beneficiaries were apprehended. Zakir Hussain, Rais, Afroz Bi, Shahina, Naseem, Shakeela Bi, Ahtesham Bano informed in police custody that Shahid (petitioner)induced them to provide their Aadhar Card, Bank Passbook and other documents to facilitate government aid in Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana through his friend Deepak Kumawat.

They received first installment of Rs. 50,000/-. They kept Rs. 5,000/- and gave Rs. 45,000/- to Zakir. Zakir in turn gave the money to Shahid and Shahid gave the money to Deepak Kumawat. Accordingly, Shahid was arrested on 31.12.2018. He was extended benefit of bail. However, there is no seizure in furtherance of such information at the instance of the applicant. The Final report was submitted on completion of investigation against the petitioner Shahid.

3. Learned counsel for petitioner, in addition to the grounds mentioned in the petition, submits that petitioner has falsely been implicated in this matter merely on the basis of information given by the co-accused in police custody, which is not admissible in evidence against the petitioner. No incriminating material was seized at the instance of the petitioner. In absence of any incriminating evidence, the prosecution against the petitioner would be travesty of justice. Learned counsel further submits that trial is pending. Only 03 out of 27 enlisted witnesses have been examined till date. Therefore, impugned FIR deserves to be quashed.

4. Per contra, learned counsel for the respondent/State opposes the application and submits that the complicity of the applicant is made out on the basis of material on record. He was a middleman between the other co-accused and main accused Deepak Kumawat. He facilitated all the documents for receipt of money under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana from the Municipal Corporation, Ratlam. The petition is meritless and deserves to be dismissed.

5. Heard, learned counsel for both the parties and perused the record.

6. The Supreme Court in case of State of Haryana & Others vs.Ch. Bhajan Lal & Others, reported in AIR 1992 SC 604 after an elaborate consideration of the matter and after referring to its various earlier decisions, has observed in para 102 as under:-

''102. In the backdrop of the interpretation of the various relev