THE HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE N. RAVI SHANKAR CRIMINAL PETITION No: 4982 of 2008 Date: 31st March, 2011 Between : Dasari Sriharsha … Petitioner A n d A.V.S.Mallikarjuna Rao and another … Respondents THE HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE N. RAVI SHANKAR CRIMINAL PETITION No: 4982 of 2008 ORDER: The petitioner herein is the accused in C.C.No.120 of 2006 on the file of the Court of Special Judge for Economic Offences, Hyderabad. He filed this petition to quash the proceedings in the said case. 2. The said criminal case has been registered for offences under Sections 174 and 175 of the Indian Penal Code on a complaint filed by the Senior Intelligence Officer of Directorate of Revenue Intelligence. The allegations against the petitioner are despite service of summons on him by the complainant officer, he did not attend before him in connection with the enquiry which he proposed to hold or for the purpose of his investigation or for other purposes. The main contention of the petitioner is that he has not been served with the summons personally and therefore, the prosecution against him is illegal and is seeking quashing of the proceedings on that ground. On the other hand, the learned counsel appearing for the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence has pointed out that several summons were sent to the petitioner by registered post and one of them was also served on his father and another was served on the Managing Director of the company in which the petitioner is also a Director. Another plea taken by the Department’s counsel is that the persons on whom the summons were served happened to be agents of the petitioner as contemplated under Sections 153 of the Customs Act. It may be noted that the said provision of the Custom Act says that service on the agent of the person summoned is also proper service. Thus, the contention of the petitioner that he was not served with the said summons issued by the concerned officer cannot be decided one way or the other in these proceedings, as adjudication of the same requires an inquiry into the matter. In the above circumstances, I am of the opinion that it is not for this Court to entertain this petition and pronounce in one way or the other on the pleaded merits of the petition. 3. It shall always be open to the petitioner to raise his pleas before the special court. Accordingly, without expressing any opinion on merits of this matter, this petition is dismissed. _________________________ JUSTICE N. RAVI SHANKAR Date: 31st March, 2011 KSM