Filing multiple petitions before the court seeking the same or similar relief, particularly while a related criminal petition is pending, constitutes an abuse of the process of law and is liable to be dismissed with costs.

ORDER

This writ petition is filed seeking following relief:

“…to issue a Writ, Order or Direction more particularly in the nature of Writ of Mandamus declaring that the action of the respondents in registering and continuing multiple FIRs arising out of the Memorandum of Understanding dated 10.07.2021 is illegal, arbitrary and violative of Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution of India and consequently direct the respondents to treat all complaints present or future arising out of the said MOU and the transactions covered thereunder as part of one consolidated investigation and not to subject the petitioner to repeated or successive prosecution in respect of the same transaction…”

2. Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that this writ petition is filed against the action of the official respondents in registering F.I.R. No. 184 of 2022, dated 08.09.2022, for the offences punishable under Sections 406 and 420 read with Section 34 of the Indian Penal Code, on the file of the Central Crime Station, Hyderabad, based on a complaint lodged by Mr. Nenavath Chandu Naik, wherein the petitioner has been arrayed as Accused No. 4. He further submits that while the said crime is pending, another crime has been registered against the petitioner and others in F.I.R. No. 168 of 2023, dated 18.05.2023, on the file of INSP Admin (DD), Hyderabad, for the offences punishable under Sections 406 and 420 read with Section 34 of the Indian Penal Code and Section 5 of the Telangana Protection of Depositors of Financial Establishments Act, 1999, wherein also the petitioner has been arrayed as Accused No. 4, based on a complaint made by Mr. Shaik Omer Muqhtar and others.

2.1. He would submit that, except for the change in the complainant, the nature of the complaint in both cases is one and the same, as the said crimes have arisen out of Memorandum of Understanding entered into between the petitioner and the clients of V.V. Enterprises. Moreover, he submits that in the crimes registered against the petitioner, no further investigation has been conducted, leaving the fate of the petitioner in a state of uncertainty. The failure to file any final report would ultimately cause mental agony to the petitioner, as the respondent police, under the pretext of investigation, continue to keep the matter pending, thereby violating his rights guaranteed under Article 20(2) of the Constitution of India, as it falls within the ambit of double jeopardy.

2.2. He also submits that the petitioner has filed Criminal Petition No. 281 of 2026 before this Court seeking to quash Crime No. 168 of 2023, dated 15.05.2023, on the file of the Station House Officer, PS EOW Team-IX, CCS, DD, Hyderabad, insofar as the petitioner, who is arrayed as Accused No. 4 in the said crime, is concerned. In the instant writ petition, the relief sought by the petitioner is to declare the action of the respondents in registering and continuing multiple FIRs arising out of the Memorandum of Understanding dated 10.07.2021 as illegal, arbitrary, and violative of Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution of India, and consequently to direct the respondents to treat all complaints, present or future, arising out of the said MOU and the transactions covered thereunder, as part of one consolidated investigation, and not to subject the petitioner to repeated or successive prosecution in respect of the same transaction.

3. Learned Assistant Government Pleader for Home, on the other hand, opposing the submissions of the learned counsel for the petitioner, would submit that the petitioner, after filing a Criminal Petition under Section 528 of the Bharatiya Nagarik