JUDGMENT :

M. R. Shah, J.

1. Feeling aggrieved and dissatisfied with the impugned judgment and order dated 06.03.2020 passed by the High Court of Judicature at Allahabad, Lucknow Bench, Lucknow in a Case under Sections 482/378/407 No.2005 of 2019 by which the High Court in exercise of powers under Section 482 Cr.P.C. has quashed the criminal proceedings arising out of FIR bearing Case Crime No.260 of 2018 lodged under Section 406, registered at PS – Husainganj, District – Lucknow, the State of U.P. as well as the original informant have preferred the present appeals.

2. The facts leading to the present appeals in a nutshell are as under :

For the sake of convenience, the parties are referred as per the cause title in Criminal Appeal No.840 of 2022 filed by the State of U.P. That the respondent no.4 herein M/s. United Breweries Limited is engaged in manufacture of sale of beer which is regulated and governed by the Excise Act and other relevant clause of the State. Respondent No.5 – M/s Beehive Alcoveb is the licenced Firm having F.L. 2B licence, engaged in the business of beer etc. by purchasing the goods from the company, Respondent No.5 Sanjeet Jaiwal – original informant of FIR No.260 of 2018, Manager of the company – M/s Beehive Alcoweb. On 07.09.2018 at 7.56 p.m. respondent no.5 sent a demand order at 7.56 p.m. and on 11.09.2018 through e-mail for delivery of three trucks of beer to respondent No.4 – M/s United Breweries Limited and transferred a total sum of Rs.92,98,902/- to deliver two trucks in Lucknow and one in Varanasi. The Respondent no.4 directed its transporter SICAL Logistics Limited Company to arrange a vehicle and deliver goods to Respondent no.5/the informant. That in furtherance of the same, M/s. SICAL Logistics Limited Company contacted another transport company, who in turn, hired two trucks vide truck registration numbers UP-32HN/3209 and UP-32FN/8048 for delivery of consignment of respondent no.5/informant to Lucknow after obtaining transfer permit FL-36 from Excise Department. The trucks were enabled with GPS systems as maintained by the Excise Department Track and Trace policy.

2.1 The consignment of beer was dispatched on 11.09.2018 through the aforesaid two trucks. The GPS devices of both the trucks lost contact with GPS tracking agency on 13.09.2018 after 11.41 pm. On 13.09.2018 at about 16.40 hrs. when the transporter contacted through his mobile phone to driver Mukesh on his mobile phone, he was informed that the vehicles were standing near Junabganj, Lucknow at Chauhan Dhaba (outer area of Lucknow) due to “no entry”. It appears that thereafter neither the tracer could be contacted nor the vehicles could be traced. With no positive response from the supplier, respondent no.1 and the goods not being delivered though full payment was made and the goods being missing midway, respondent no.5 lodged the present FIR bearing Case Crime No.260 of 2018 for the offence under Sections 406 & 420 IPC. In the meantime, the Manager of M/s SICAL Logistic also lodged a separate FIR bearing Case Crime No.390 of 2018 under Sections 420 & 406 IPC PS Badalpur, Gautam Budha Nagar against two truck drivers and one unknown person. After the conclusion of the investigation, the Investigating Officer filed the chargesheet against respondent no.5 in Case Crime No.26 of 2018 dated 10.02.2018 and thereafter the learned Magistrate passed the summoning order dated 13.02.2019. Even subsequently the Investigating Officer PS Badalpur has also filed the chargesheet in the case arising out of Case Crime No.227 of 2019 PS – Banthra, District Lucknow (Old No.390 of 2018). Thereafter goods were delivered to the original informant. Also, respondent no.1 to respondent no.4 herein, accused in Criminal Case No.5694 of 2019 (arising out of FIR No.260 of 2018) approached the High Court by way of an application under Section 482 Cr.P.C. being Case Crime No.2005 of 2019 seeking the following main reliefs:

“(i) set aside the impugned summoning order