AJN

IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY

CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION

CRIMINAL WRIT PETITION NO.1772 OF 2004

The State of Maharashtra,

)

through Smt. Meera C. Borwankar, )

Jt. Commissioner of Police (Crime) )

Mumbai.

) ... Petitioner

Versus

Nitendrasingh @ Nitin Kumarsingh )

Patil, aged 40 years, Occ. Asstt. )

Police Inspector, Thane (Rural), )

Residing at: 203, Karmakshetra, Nr.)

Naupada Police Station, Thane (W). ) ... Respondent

Mr. V.A. Thorat, Advocate General with Mr. B.R.

Patil, Act.P.P., Ms. P.H. Kantharia, A.P.P. and Ms.

U.V. Kejriwal, A.P.P. for the petitioner-State.

Ms. Asmita Sarangdhar for the respondent.

CORAM : SMT. RANJANA DESAI & A.S. OKA, JJ.

JUDGMENT RESERVED ON : 24TH NOVEMBER, 2004.

JUDGMENT PRONOUNCED ON : 22ND DECEMBER, 2004.

ORAL JUDGMENT:- (Per Smt. Ranjana Desai, J.)

1.

This

petition

is

filed

by

the

State

of

Maharashtra

through

Smt.

Meera

Borvankar,

the

Joint

Commissioner

of

Police

(Crime),

Mumbai,

under

Articles

226

and

227

of

the

Constitution

of

India

and

under

section

482

of

the

Criminal

Procedure

Code,

1973

(for

short,

"the

Code")

challenging

the

orders

dated

24/8/2004,

26/8/2004

and

30/8/2004

passed

by

the

Special

Judge

under

the

Maharashtra

Control

of

Organised

Crime

Act,

1999

(for

: 2 :

short,

"the

MCOCA")

on

Misc.

Application

No.243

of

2004

filed

by

the

respondent

(for

convenience,

"the

complainant".)

The

complainant

is

the

Assistant

Police

Inspector, Thane Rural. The petitioner is seeking a

direction for quashing the impugned orders.

2.

Since

this

petition

arises

out

of

the

private

complaint

filed

by

the

complainant,

the

gist

of

the

allegations

contained

therein

will

have

to

be

shortly

stated.

The

complainant

filed

the

said

private

complaint

in

the

MCOCA

Court

at

Bombay

under

section

3(2),

3(3),

3(4),

3(5),

4

and

24

of

the

MCOCA

and

under

sections

120B,

143,

147,

149,

166,

182,

191,

192,

193,

195,

196,

218,

323

read

with

section

34

of

the

Indian

Penal

Code

(for

short,

"the

IPC")

against

14

persons.

Out

of

the

said

14

persons

who

have

been

arraigned

as

the

accused,

7

are

police

officers.

One

of

the

accused

is

a

Sales

Tax

Officer.

It

is

alleged

in

the

complaint

that

there

are

in

existence

a

large

number

of

gangs

which

are

indulging

in

the

organised

criminal

activities

of

adulteration

of

petrol

and

diesel

at

the

petrol

pumps.

The

said

gangs

are

procuring

the

petroleous

adulterant

chemicals

through

various

sources

for

mixing

them

in

the

petrol

and

diesel.

Their

modus

operandi

consists

of

stealing

the

petrol

and

the

diesel

at

illegal

joints

carried

by

the

tankers

from

Government

companies,

mixing

kerosene

or

Naphtha

as

substitutes,

making

forgery

for

the

purpose

of

cheating,

using

forged

document

as

genuine,

opening

regular

workshops

for

processing

on

the

imported

Naphtha

and

: 3 :

thereby

converting

Naphtha

into

an

adulterant

and

using

the

same

for

the

purposes

of

adulteration

at

the

petrol

pumps

instead

of

selling

it

to

the

licensed

companies,

also

using

cheap

blue

subsidized

kerosene

for

adulteration

and

thus

compelling

the

common

public

to

buy

costly white imported kerosene by creating artificial

shortage of the fuel.

3.

According

to

the

complainant,

on

1/9/2003,

he

was

attached

to

the

Local

Crim