IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD FRIDAY, THE TWENTY FIFTH DAY OF SEPTEMBER TWO THOUSAND AND NINE HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE G. BHAVANI PRASAD Criminal Petition No.8014 of 2009 Between: M. Hanumantha Rao, S/o Subba Rao .. Petitioner AND State of Andhra Pradesh, represented by Public Prosecutor, High Court of A.P., Hyderabad and 2 others .. Respondents Petition under Section 482 of Cr.P.C. praying that in the circumstances stated in the grounds filed therewith, the High Court may be pleased to pass orders directing the court of learned Judicial Magistrate of First Class, Bhadrachalam, Khammam District to order for release of the lorry bearing Regd.No.AP-24-U- 9879 seized in Cr.No.122 of 2009 of Bhadrachalam Town Police Station, Khammam District. The petition coming on for hearing, upon perusing the petition and the grounds filed in support thereof and upon hearing the arguments of Sri Kasi Nageswara Rao, learned counsel for the petitioner and of Sri A. Ramesh, learned counsel representing the learned Public Prosecutor for the respondents, the Court made the following: ORDER: Heard Sri Kasi Nageswara Rao, learned counsel for the petitioner and Sri A. Ramesh, learned counsel representing the learned Public Prosecutor for all the respondents. Crime No.122 of 2009 was registered by Bhadrachalam Town Police Station in respect of offences under Section 20 (b) (1), 8(c) of N.D.P.S. Act and the confession-cum-seizure panchanama, which led to the registration of crime shows that the lorry bearing registration No.AP-24-U-9879 was intercepted and found to be carrying Ganja loaded in 82 bags. The First Information Report was registered against six accused and the petitioner is not one among them. The petitioner claims that he purchased the lorry from one Venkateswara Rao on 05-05-2008 by availing financial assistance from Sriram Transport Finance Company Limited, Khammam, and got the registration certificate transferred in his name. He claims to have engaged the second accused in the crime as the driver for the lorry, which he is plying for earning his livelihood. The petitioner further claims the driver to have informed that the lorry was engaged by the first accused for transportation of rice and it was known only later that the lorry was used for transporting Ganja. The petitioner, therefore, claims that he may be entrusted with the interim custody of the vehicle as the same would deteriorate, if kept unattended and unused and he is ready to furnish satisfactory security and abide by any conditions imposed. The Apex Court in Sunderbhai Ambalal Desai v. State of Gujarat[1] has laid down that in case of vehicles seized in Crimes, orders under Section 451 of the Code of Criminal Procedure should be passed expeditiously and judiciously at least within six months from the date of seizure to avoid such vehicles becoming junk day by day by being kept unattended and unused in the premises of police stations. Irrespective of the truth or otherwise of the claims of the petitioner, as he is not alleged even by the First Information Report to be himself involved in the crime and as the copy of the certificate of registration filed by him shows him to be the ostensible owner of the lorry, the interim custody of the lorry has to be entrusted to him subject to appropriate conditions. Therefore, the lorry bearing No.AP-24-U-9879 seized in Crime No.122 of 2009 of Bhadrachalam Town Police Station, Khammam District, shall be entrusted to the interim custody of the petitioner on his execution of a personal bond for Rs.5,00,000/- (Rupees five lakhs only) with one surety for a like sum to the satisfaction of the Judicial Magistrate of First Class, Bhadrachalam, and on the petitioner further undertaking to maintain the lorry in the same physical state without any change of its physical features and not to alienate or encumber the same and to produce the same whenever directed by the Court till the finality of the criminal proceedings. Accordingly, the Criminal Petition is allowed. _____________________ G. BHAVANI PRASAD, J Date: 25-09-2009 Ksn [1] (2002) 10 Supreme Court Cases 283