THE HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE B. SESHASAYANA REDDY Criminal Petition Nos.6890, 4995 and 4523 of 2007 Dated:15th July, 2010 Crl.P.No.6890 of 2007 Between: 1. Alla Sambasiva Rao & 3 Ors. …Petitioners/A1 to A4 And 1. State of A.P. rep. by its Public Prosecutor, High Court of A.P., Hyderabad & Anr. …Respondents *** Crl.P.No.4995 of 2007 Between: 1. Madala Sridevi & Anr. …Petitioners/A5 & A6 And 1. The State , through SHO PS Old Guntur L&O, rep. by its Public Prosecutor, High Court of A.P., Hyderabad & Anr. …Respondents *** Crl.P.No.4523 of 2007 Between: 1. N.Gopi & Anr. …Petitioners/A7 & A8 And 1. The State, through SHO PS Old Guntur L & O, rep. by its Public Prosecutor, High Court of A.P., Hyderabad. …Respondent *** THE HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE B. SESHASAYANA REDDY Criminal Petition Nos.6890, 4995 and 4523 of 2007 COMMON ORDER: These three criminal petitions are filed with a prayer to quash the proceedings in C.C.No.353 of 2007 on the file of VI Additional Judicial Magistrate of First Class, Guntur. More precisely, Crl.P.No.6890 of 2007 has been filed by A1 to A4; Crl.P.No.4995 of 2007 has been filed by A5 and A7; and Crl.P.No.4523 of 2007 has been filed by A6 and A8 in C.C.No.353 of 2007. 2. Since the issue involved in all the criminal petitions is one and the same, they are being heard together and disposed of by this common Order. 3. LW.1 P.Ajit Kumar, Joint Director of Agriculture, Guntur, surprised the New Guntur Railway Station godowns and found 58.150 tonnes of Bengal Gram Seed. LW.2 Ch.Ravi Kumar, Agricultural Officer, Guntur, LW.3 V.Vanisree, Agriculture Officer, Urban Guntur, collected samples of the stock and whereas, LW.1 P.Ajit Kumar, Joint Director of Agriculture, Guntur, seized the entire stock. The samples came to be sent for germination test. The samples have been certified as seed material by LW.5 G.Vasudeva Reddy, Seed Analyst & Asst. Director of Agriculture, Seed Testing Laboratory, Rajendra Nagar, Hyderabad. Thereafter, LW.1 P.Ajit Kumar, presented a complaint to the Sub- Inspector of Police, Old Guntur Law and Order P.S., Guntur. LW.6 K.Ravi Kumar, Sub-Inspector of Police, Old Guntur Law & Order P.S., Guntur, registered a case in Crime No.160 of 2006 for the offenses under Sections 120-B and 420 IPC. After due investigation, a charge- sheet came to be submitted by LW.6 K.Ravi Kumar, S.I. of Police, before VI Additional Munsif Magistrate, Guntur. The learned Magistrate took the charge-sheet on file as CC No.353 of 2007. Hence, these three criminal petitions by the accused to quash the proceedings in C.C.No.353 of 2007. 4. Heard Sri Nimmagadda Satyanarayana, learned counsel appearing for the petitioners in Crl.P.No.6890 of 2007 and Sri N.Ravi Prasad, learned counsel appearing for the petitioners in Crl.P.Nos.4995 and 4523 of 2007 and learned Additional Public Prosecutor appearing for the respondents in all the petitions. 5. Sri Nimmagadda Satyanarayana, learned counsel appearing for the petitioners in Crl.P.No.6890 of 2007 contends that the petitioners 3 and 4 in Crl.P.No.6890 of 2007 possessed valid trade licence and therefore, their possession of the Bengal gram cannot be termed as illegal and in which case, very seizure of the Bengal gram cannot be sustained. Learned counsel further submits that the petitioners 3 and 4 procured the Bengal gram from the ryots and stored in the cold storage godowns and the said Bengal gram cannot be classified as seed material. 6. I have gone through the material placed on record. Samples of stock seized from the Old Guntur Railway Station godowns came to be sent to the Seed Analyst and Asst. Director of Agriculture, Seed Testing Laboratory, Rajendrnagar, Hyderabad. LW.5 G.Vasudeva Reddy, Seed Analyst and Asst. Director of Agriculture, Seed Testing Laboratory, Rajendranagar, Hyderabad, tested the sample and submitted his report stating that the seized samples are of seed material. In view of the report submitted by LW.5, I do not find any substance in the contention of the learned counsel appearing for the petitioners in Crl.P.No.6890 of 2007 that the stock seized is not seed material. Indisputably, the petitioners 3 and 4 in Crl.P.No.6890 of 2007 do not possess any certificate under the Seeds Act to deal with the business in seeds. The Petitioner No.1 in Crl.P.No.6890 of 2007 is a forwarding agent. The accusation leveled against the petitioner No.1 is that he in collusion with A3 and A4 purchased the subsidy Bengal gram and got transported them to New Guntur Railway Station. Such is the situation, it is not permissible at this stage to say that the 1st petitioner in Crl.P.No.6890 of 2007 has no nexus in transportation of the Bengal Gram seed from Guntur to Delhi. 7. With regard to the 2nd petitioner in Crl.P.No.6890 of 2007, he is stated to be Muta Maistry of Goods Godown. His role is only for loading and unloading of the goods and he cannot be connected with the trade activities of the petitioners 1, 3 and 4 in Crl.P.No.6890 of 2007. Therefore, continuation of proceedings against the 2nd petitioner amounts to abuse of process of the Court. 8. With regard to the petitioners in Crl.P.Nos.4995 and 4523 of 2007, they are stated to be the owners of the vehicles, by which the Bengal Gram seed is being transported. They possessed all necessary documents for transportation of the material. It is too far fetched to draw an inference that they got knowledge of the stock containing seed material. When the load of Bengal gram stock contains necessary transport documents, they cannot be said that they have shared common intention with the other accused for transport of Bengal Gram seed, which is meant for the ryots in Prakasam District. Therefore, continuation of proceedings against them amounts to abuse of process of the Court. 9. Accordingly, Crl.P.No.6890 of 2007 is partly allowed and Crl.P.Nos.4995 and 4523 of 2007 are allowed quashing the proceedings in C.C.No.353 of 2007 on the file of VI Additional Judicial Magistrate of First Class, Guntur, against A2, A5 to A8. The proceedings in the said C.C. against A1, A3 and A4 shall go on. ______________________ B.SESHASAYANA REDDY, J. Date:15th July, 2010. cs THE HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE B. SESHASAYANA REDDY Criminal Petition Nos.6890, 4995 and 4523 of 2007 Dated:15th July, 2010