In the High Court of Punjab and Haryana at Chandigarh ...... Criminal Misc. No.M-340 of 2010 ..... Date of decision:23.9.2010 Jagpal Singh and another .....Petitioners v. State of Haryana .....Respondent .... Present: Mr. S.K. Garg Narwana, Advocate for the petitioners. Mr. Pawan Singh, Assistant Advocate General, Haryana for the respondent-State. Mr. Gaurav Sethi, Advocate for the complainant. ..... S.S. Saron, J. Heard learned counsel for the parties. The petitioners see pre-arrest bail in a case registered against them for the offences under Sections 406, 420, 467, 468, 471 and 120-B Indian Penal Code (`IPC' – for short). The FIR in the case has been registered on the complaint of Kewal Krishan son of Chaman Lal. It has been alleged that Jagpal Singh (petitioner No.1), Sapatter Singh, Mam Chand and Promila (non-petitioners) and Usha Rani (petitioner No.2) had defrauded the complainant. The complainant claims himself to be the owner of property bearing No.3497, Katcha Bazar, Ambala Cantt. by way of allotment order No.11943 dated 22.7.1994. Khairati Lal uncle of the complainant was allottee of the same and after his death the complainant is the absolute owner of the property. Cr. Misc. No.M-340 of 2010 [2] The accused had agreed to purchase House No.3497, Katcha Bazar, Ambala Cantt. measuring 52 sq. yards for a sum of Rs.5,25,000/- and they paid Rs.1,10,000/- to the complainant on 28.6.2007 as earnest money and an agreement on the said date was also executed. The sale deed, it was agreed, to be executed by 31.3.2008. Thereafter extension was sought and the date for execution of the sale deed was extended till 4.4.2008. The said date was a Sunday due to which sale deed could not be executed as such the complainant got his presence marked in the office of Registrar, Ambala on 5.4.2009. The above said persons did not come despite repeated requests. The complainant had learnt from reliable sources that the persons in connivance with the officials of the Municipal Council, Ambala further got mutation of the above said property No.3496 in the name of C. Lal c/o Sapatter in the record of the Municipal Council Ambala by cheating, defrauding and forging photo copy of the government documents in connivance with each other. Therefore, it is requested that FIR be registered. The dispute in the case relates to purchase of property No.3497 situated at Katcha Bazar, Ambala Cantt. which the complainant Kewal Krishan claims belongs to him after the death of his uncle Khairati Lal, who was the original allottee. However, according to the complainant mutation of property No.3496 has been entered in the name of one C. Lal c/o Sapatter in the record of Municipal Council, Ambala Cantt. According to the learned counsel for the petitioners the property No.3496 has not been transferred in the name of the petitioners, therefore, the allegations against them that it has been transferred in the name of one C. Lal in the record of the Municipal Council, Ambala Cantt. by forging documents is completely concocted and false. It is submitted Cr. Misc. No.M-340 of 2010 [3] that the FIR has been registered by the complainant-Kewal Krishan in order to back out from the agreement that he has entered into to sell the property No.3497. It is submitted that the complainant has not returned the earnest money nor is transferring the property in favour of the petitioners and that he is blackmailing the petitioners by demanding Rs.8.00 Lacs. The petitioners, it is submitted, are ready to purchase the property at the agreed rate and they are also ready to give specimen of the hand-writing and signatures to the Police to join investigation. In response, learned counsel appearing for the State has submitted that the petitioners have joined the investigation and their custody is not required for the purposes of investigation. It is submitted that the Police gave a questionnaire to the Tehsildar (Sales), Ambala regarding the properties No.3496 and 3497 situated at Katcha Bazar, Timber Market Ambala Cantt. and the Tehsildar (Sales) Ambala as per reply to the questionnaire has given details of the two properties. According to the reply, it is submitted by the Tehsildar (Sales) that the properties are not recorded in the name of any person and, therefore, according to the State the complainant is not entitled to sell the property without their ownership being clear. Learned counsel for the complainant has, however, opposed the petition. It is submitted that the allotment order No.11943 dated 22.7.1994 has been issued in favour of Khairati Lal-uncle of the complainant. The said Khairati Lal has died and he executed a Will in favour of the complainant. On the basis of the Will, it is submitted that the complainant is entitled to property No.3497 Katcha Bazar, Ambala Cantt. It is submitted that the petitioners had entered into an agreement for purchase of property Cr. Misc. No.M-340 of 2010 [4] No.3497. However, they added property No.3496 and they added an additional paragraph in the affidavit and they fabricated documents and got the properties transferred in favour of Mam Chand. A reference has been made to the affidavit dated 16.7.2007 of Kewal Krishan-complainant in which it is submitted that one paragraph has been added, that is, last para 5 has been added in which it is stated that the deponent (complainant-Kewal Krishan) would have no objection, if the above property i.e. house No.3497 is transferred in the name of Mam Chand son of Pat Ram son of Asha Ram resident of Mulana, Tehsil Mulana, District Ambala. I have given my thoughtful consideration to the contentions of the learned counsel for the parties. At present both the properties i.e. 3497 and 3496 Katcha Bazar, Ambala Cantt. are not in the name of any persons rather in the record are in the name of Municipal Council. The question whether in the affidavit dated 16.7.2007 para 5 has been added later is to be considered and gone into by the Court after evidence has been led. Learned counsel for the State has submitted that the custody of the petitioners is not required for the purposes of investigation. The Tehsildar (Sales) in his reply dated 10.9.2010/13.9.2010 to the queries raised by the Police authorities has submitted that the properties are in the name of the Municipal Council, Ambala Cantt. and are not in the name of any individual person. In reply to the question, it is stated in para 2 that after the partition of the country property No.3496 is recorded in the name of Bahal Singh and property No.3497 is recorded in the name of Khairati Lal, Nathu Ram and Tokan Dass. In reply to para 5, it is stated that at present the property is recorded in the name of the Department and these are to be disposed of in accordance with the departmental instructions. It is Cr. Misc. No.M-340 of 2010 [5] mentioned in the reply to the query that regarding these houses one case titled State v. Megh Raj, Kewal Krishan etc. is pending in the Court of Chief Commissioner (Sales), Haryana, Chandigarh bearing No.53/R/ CSC/1998 and the case file has been sent in the said case. The parties may pursue their remedies as regards the ownership and possession in accordance with law. The present case only relates to purchase of property by forging of documents. Since custody of the petitioners is not required by the State, the interim bail granted on 8.1.2010 is made absolute. The criminal miscellaneous petition stands disposed of. September 23, 2010. (S.S. Saron) Judge *hsp*