HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE GOPALA KRISHNA TAMADA CRIMINAL PETITION No.1086 of 2007 ORDER: This criminal petition is filed by the petitioners-A.1 and A.2 seeking to quash Crime No.26 of 2005 on the file of I Town Police Station, Chittoor, Chittor District. 2. Facts of the case, in brief, are that the 2nd respondent herein filed a complaint dated 15.03.2005 before I town Police Station, Chittoor, Chittoor District, against the petitioners herein and two others alleging that all the accused offered a plot for sale on Tirupathi-Renigunta Road and having agreed to buy the said plot for Rs.6,00,000/-, he paid Rs.1,00,000/- in cash and thereafter Rs.3,59,600/- by way of demand drafts drawn on State Bank of India, Tirupathi, in favour of 4th accused. It is agreed that the balance amount would be paid at the time of registration. Subsequently, inspite of repeated demands, the accused did not come forward to register the plot in his name. In the month of March, 2004, the accused stated that they would refund the amount as they could not get the plot registered because it is in dispute before a civil Court at Tirupathi. Accordingly, the accused returned Rs.1,50,000/- by way of demand drafts, but later failed to pay the balance amount. On 16.01.2005 when he approached the accused, they threatened him with dire consequences. Basing on the said complaint, the police registered Crime No.26 of 2005 against the accused for the offence punishable under Section 420 IPC. 3. As the notices sent to the 2nd respondent were returned unserved, the learned counsel for the petitioners was directed to take out substitute service by way of paper publication, and accordingly, he got the notices published in Times of India, New Delhi Edition, and filed proof of service into court. Despite the said publication, the 2nd respondent did not appear before this Court either in person or through an advocate. 4. The learned counsel for the petitioners has submitted that the petitioners have not committed any offence much less the alleged offence and in fact they were falsely implicated in the case, and even according to the complaint, the 2nd respondent has had the entire transaction with accused Nos.3 and 4 only. He further submitted that on the ground that the alleged offence took place within the jurisdiction of Tirupathi, the file was transferred to Tirupathi East Police Station for investigation where it was registered as Crime No.43 of 2008. 5. Apparently, the allegations made in the complaint filed by the 2nd respondent, in my considered view, appear to be civil in nature. No doubt, there is a money transaction and in that regard the 2nd respondent paid Rs.4,59,600/- by way of demand drafts drawn on State Bank of India, Tirupathi, in favour of 4th accused (not the petitioners herein) for the purpose of purchasing the plot at Tirupathi. Further, in the complaint, it is also stated that the accused agreed to refund the amount, as they could not get the plot registered because it is in dispute before a civil Court at Tirupathi. 6. In the light of the above, it cannot be said that the petitioners herein-A.1 and A.2 had any dishonest intention, to attract the provisions of Section 420 IPC. 7. Accordingly, the Criminal Petition is allowed and the proceedings in Crime No.26 of 2005 on the file of I Town Police Station, Chittoor, Chittoor District (which was transferred to Tirupathi East Police Station, Chittoor District, and registered as Crime No.43 of 2008) in so far as petitioners herein-A.1 and A.2 are concerned, are hereby quashed. _______________________________ GOPALA KRISHNA TAMADA, J 7th July, 2010 CBS HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE GOPALA KRISHNA TAMADA CRIMINAL PETITION No.1086 of 2007 (Allowed) Date:07.07.2010 CBS