THE HONOURABLE SMT. JUSTICE K. SUJANA CRIMINAL PETITION No.4568 of 2025

ORAL ORDER:

This Criminal Petition is filed seeking the Court to quash the docket order dated 13.09.2024 passed in Crl.M.P.No.598 of 2024 in Crime No.61 of 2024 by the learned Special Judicial Magistrate of First Class (Excise), Karimnagar.

2. The brief facts of the case are that the Police filed a requisition petition before the trial Court vide Crl.M.P.No.598 of 2024 to send the disputed document to the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) and also requested the Court to summon the suspected persons for obtaining their signatures for comparison with the signatures on the disputed documents. The trial Court vide order dated 13.09.2024 allowed the petition to obtain the specimen handwriting of the suspected persons/revenue officials mentioned in the requisition petition and forward the same to the handwriting expert at FSL, Hyderabad, for comparison with the questioned documents. Aggrieved by this decision, the present criminal petition has been filed.

3. Heard Sri V. Srikantha Rao, learned counsel appearing on behalf of the petitioner, as well as Sri E. Ganesh, learned Assistant Public Prosecutor appearing on behalf of the respondent - State.

4. Learned counsel for the petitioner submitted that no notice was issued to the petitioners before sending the document to the FSL, and that the Court must hear the petitioners before sending the documents to the FSL. Therefore, he prayed the Court to set aside the docket order of the trial Court by allowing this criminal petition.

5. On the other hand, the learned Assistant Public Prosecutor opposed the submissions made by the learned counsel for the petitioners, stating that the petitioners are not suspected persons and are in no way connected to the alleged crime. Therefore, notice to the petitioners was not necessary for sending the disputed documents to the FSL and prayed the Court to dismiss the criminal petition.

6. In light of the submissions made by both the learned counsel and upon perusal of the material available on record, the disputed document is alleged to be forged according to the de facto complainant. Therefore, the Investigating Officer filed a petition to send the documents to the FSL for comparison of the signatures on the documents with those of the suspected persons. Further, the petitioners are not suspected persons, and no prejudice would be caused to them if the documents were sent to the FSL. Therefore, there are no merits in this criminal petition, and the same is liable to be dismissed.

7. Accordingly, this criminal petition is dismissed.

Miscellaneous applications, if any pending, shall also stand closed.

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K. SUJANA, J Date: 03.04.2025 SAI