HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE G.BHAVANI PRASAD CRIMINAL PETITION No.6224 of 2009 DATED:18.08.2009 Between: Checkmate Services Private Limited .. Petitioner And The State of A.P., rep., by its Public Prosecutor, High Court of A.P., Hyderabad and another .. Respondents HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE G.BHAVANI PRASAD CRIMINAL PETITION No.6224 of 2009 ORDER: Heard Sri T.Nageswara Rao, learned counsel for the petitioner, and Sri A.Ramesh, learned counsel representing the learned Public Prosecutor for both the respondents. Crime No.62 of 2009 of Pedapadu Police Station, West Godavai District was registered on the basis of an occurrence report, dated 08.04.2009, when the Sub Inspector of Police intercepted Tata Indica Car bearing No.AP-31-TV-776 and found gold coins in plastic boxes in the possession of B.Kanakaraju, travelling in the vehicle. It was claimed that he was unable to satisfactorily explain the possession of gold coins which were weighing 5,665.5 grms., in total. In pursuance of the registration of crime under Section 102(3) of Code of Criminal Procedure, the case property which was revised to be weighing 6,165.5 grms., was produced before the Court of competent jurisdiction and the petitioner, claiming ownership of the gold coins, filed Crl.M.P.No.972 of 2009 before the Special Judicial Magistrate of First Class (Excise), West Godavari, Eluru for interim custody of the property. The learned Magistrate passed orders on 16.04.2009 noting the contentions of the petitioner that the petitioner has valid agreement with ICICI Bank to transmit cash, gold and other valuable articles from one to other branches and that the gold coins in question were being transported accordingly. The learned Magistrate also noted that the petitioner was not shown to be either a politician or to be involved with a registered political party. Therefore, while opining that the interim custody of the property should be given to the petitioner, the learned Magistrate directed the interim custody of the property to the petitioner on execution of a personal bond with single surety for Rs.90,00,000/- and also further directing to produce the value of the property before the Court as and when directed. While so, the police have, in the meanwhile, concluded their investigation and filed the final report, dated 22.07.2009 stating that the Sub Inspector of Police examined three witnesses and went through the documents produced by the authorized signatory of the petitioner. He confirmed from the evidence that 826 gold coins were handed over to the petitioner through the Security Field Officer for delivery to various branches of the bank in the State as per the Service Provider Agreement between the bank and the petitioner. Therefore, the investigating agency requested to pass an order to release the seized property in favour of the petitioner, while referring the case as per the final report. Sri A.Ramesh, learned counsel representing the learned Public Prosecutor for both the respondents got confirmed the correctness of the final report. Under the circumstances, in the light of the final report by the police, there is no need to impose any conditions for return of the case property to the petitioner. Therefore, 826 gold coins weighing 6,165.5 grms., shall be released to the custody of the petitioner through its authorized signatory on proper identification and under valid acknowledgment by the learned Special Judicial Magistrate of First Class (Excise), West Godavari, Eluru on production of the case property by the Station House Officer, Pedapadu Police Station, West Godavari District before the said Court forthwith. Accordingly, the Criminal Petition is ordered. _____________________ G. BHAVANI PRASAD, J 18th August 2009 Note: Issue C.C. by Tomorrow. (B/o) KH