HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE G. KRISHNA MOHAN REDDY CRIMINAL PETITION No.8220 OF 2008 DATE:25-11-2011 ORDER: This Criminal Petition is ﬁled by the Petitioners/A-1 to 3 under Section 482 of Cr.P.C. seeking to quash proceedings in Crime No.99 of 2008, pending on the ﬁle of Gollapalli Police station, Karimnagar District, registered for offences punishable under Sections 420, 468, 470, 471 and 472 I.P.C. For the sake of convenience, I refer the parties as arrayed in Crime No.99 of 2008. 2. The prosecution version in brief is as follows : The Tahsildar, Gollapalli Mandal, Karimnagar District, submitted a report to the Station House Oﬃcer, Gollapalli P.S. Karimnagar District, stating that he along with the Revenue Inspector No.II Gollapalli, searched a house bearing No.8- 72 on 25-09-2008 and during the search found some records such as bogus passbooks with or without the signatures of Higher Revenue Oﬃcials, 1-B Registers of Enugumatla village, Stamps of Mutation and undistributed Rajeev Arogya Sri cards of Bheemarajupalli village. It is also alleged that A- 1 eﬀected necessary mutation pertaining to Gaddam Thirupathi Reddy and A- 2 forged the passbooks of Tandra Gangaiah and 24 others of Gollapalli, Enugumatla, Yaswantharaopet and Chilvakoduru villages and A-3 issued forged passbooks of Samala Rayamallu and 8 others of Chandoli village respectively. Hence, A-1 to A-3 are liable to be punished for the alleged offences. 3. It is the contention of learned counsel for A-1 to A-3 that while A-1 was working as the V.R.O. of Ibrahim Nagar, he mutated the name of G. Thirupathi Reddy in pattedar columns and in possessor columns, consequent upon the death of his father and issued passbook to him taking instructions from the concerned Tahsildar and A-2 issued passbooks upon the instructions of the then Tahsildar in favour of Tandra Gangaiah and 24 others as the V.R.O. of Venugumatla and Yashwanthraopet villages but not as the V.R.O. of Chilvakoduru village at any point of time. Further, A-3 issued passbooks upon the instructions of the then Tahsildar, Samala Rayamallu and others of Chandoli village as a part of his job. Further, the Issue Register maintained in the oﬃce of the Tahsildar, Gollapalli Mandal, clearly discloses about the issuance of the passbooks in favour of the concerned. Further, the passbooks seized from the possession of A-1 to A-3 contain serial numbers, which would tally with the corresponding numbers recorded in the Passbook Issue Register. Further, A-1 to A-3 produced the concerned passbooks before the Tahsildar. Further, it is also clear that A-1 maintained 1-B Register so as to regulate the entries made in the passbooks and those entries do not contain all necessary details. It is further contended that A-1 to A-3 did not commit any irregularity or illegality in the discharge of their duties as Village Revenue Oﬃcers and even if any irregularities were committed by them in discharge of their oﬃcial duties, the same do not constitute any oﬀences punishable under I.P.C. and hence, the entire proceedings against A-1 to A-3 in that Crime No.99 of 2008 are liable to be quashed. 4. The point for consideration is whether there are suﬃcient grounds in order to quash the proceedings against A-1 to A-3 in Crime No.99 of 2008 on the file of Gollapalli Police station? 5. As seen from the allegations made against A-1 to A-3, it is very clear that A-1 to A-3 involved in creating bogus passbooks with or without the signatures of Higher Revenue Oﬃcials etc. Further, as per Chapter 12 Cr.P.C. which deals with ‘information to the police and their powers to investigate’, the concerned police got absolute authority and discretion to conduct necessary investigation in the case and come to a logical conclusion before ﬁling any report under Section 173 of Cr.P.C. This Court cannot now examine and decide the question of genuineness of the records alleged to have been created by A-1 to A-3 in the case by misusing their positions. Only basing upon the record available, the question of complicity of A-1 to A-3 is to be decided prima-facie, with regard to the genuineness of the passbooks, unless the investigation of the case is completed a clear ﬁnding with regard to their complicity in the case cannot be arrived at. Accordingly, I see no grounds to interfere with the investigation of the case and allow the Criminal Petition. Hence, the Criminal Petition is dismissed. __________________________ G. KRISHNA MOHAN REDDY, J Dated: 25-11-2011. Dsh. THE HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE G. KRISHNA MOHAN REDDY 249 CRIMINAL PETITION No.8220 OF 2008 November, 25, 2011 DSH