Allahabad High Court
Shraddha Gupta vs State Of U P And 6 Others on 14 May, 2018
Bench: Shashi Kant Gupta, Bachchoo Lal
HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT ALLAHABAD
?Court No. - 32
Case :- CRIMINAL MISC. WRIT PETITION No. - 11592 of 2018
Petitioner :- Shraddha Gupta
Respondent :- State Of U P And 6 Others
Counsel for Petitioner :- Ghanshyam Das Mishra
Counsel for Respondent :- G.A.
Hon'ble Shashi Kant Gupta,J.
Hon'ble Bachchoo Lal,J.
Heard learned counsel for the petitioner, Viparna Gaur, the respondent no. 7 who is personally present before the court in person, learned A.G.A. for the State and perused the record.
This petition has been filed inter alia to quash the impugned order dated 29.1.2018 passed by respondent no. 1 whereby the investigation of case crime no. 337 of 2016 under Sections 147, 302, 323, 504,120-B and 506 I.P.C. Police Station Ujhani, District Budaun with respect to the remaining accused against whom chargesheet has not yet been filed has been again sent back to Crime Branch for further investigation.
A perusal of record shows that Sadhana Sharma, who was an officiating D.G.C.(Crl.), was murdered on 23.5.2016 when she was returning home from Civil Court at about 5.30 p.m. Following which the F.I.R. was lodged and the case was registered under Sections 147, 307, 302, 504, 120-B and 506 I.P.C. in case crime no. 337 of 2016. The investigation of the matter was transferred by the Inspector General of Police, Bareilly to Crime Branch, Bareilly by order dated 20.7.2016 from district Budaun who conducted the investigation. It appears that an application was filed by the informant on 12.5.2017 with a request to transfer the investigation from Crime Branch to C.B.I. as a result theinvestigation of the case after more than 1 and 1/2 years was transferred to C.B.C.I.D. from Crime Branch. It is notable that the Crime Branch during the course of investigation had submitted charge sheet against 8 persons out of 11 accused whose trial is going on before 1st A.D.J., Budaun. It appears that on the basis of the application dated 12.5.2017 the investigation which was pending before Authority for transferring the matter to C.B.I. belatedly after several months was transferred from Crime Branch to C.B.C.I.D. by order dated 15.1.2018 by respondent no.1.
The perusal of record further reveals that the respondent no. 7 thereafter filed an application dated 22.1.2018 stating therein that the Crime Branch had already filed charge-sheet against 8 accused and investigation now only against the remaining 3 persons is pending before the investigating agency. The investigation was transferred to Crime Branch long back and the investigation was conducted there for more than 1 and 1/2 years, and the respondent no. 7 further expressed her satisfaction with the progress of the investigation conducted by Crime Branch. In pursuance thereof, again the investigation was sent back to Crime Branch, Bareilly for making investigation.
Being aggrieved with the said order dated 29.1.2018 passed by respondent no. 1, the present writ petition has been filed by the petitioner.
Learned counsel for the petitioner submitted that on the application made by the petitioner, the respondent no. 1 transferred the investigation before C.B.C.I.D. but within 14 days, the investigation was again transferred back to Crime Branch, Bareilly without any cogent reason as such the order dated 29.1.2018 is illegal, arbitrary and bad in the eyes of law and is liable to be quashed. It has further been submitted that the impugned order dated 29.1.2018 has been passed without assigning any reason and without affording any opportunity of hearing to the petitioner. It has been further submitted that S. P., Crime Branch, Bareilly is under the influences of the respondent no. 7 and she does not expect any justice from him.
In the present case, the deceased who was officiating as D.G.C.(Crl.) was murdered on 23.5.2016 when she was returning home from Civil Court. The petitioner Shraddha Gupta, the real sister of the deceased and her husband Shrawan Kumar Gupta along with other persons have been made accused in the present case. The respondent no. 7 Viparna Gaur, the informant, is also the real sister of the deceased. The investigation of the matter was transferred to Crime Branch Bareilly by order dated 20.7.2016. The investigation was conducted by Crime Branch, Bareilly and in pursuance of the same, 8 accused were charge-sheeted out of 11 accused whose trial is going on before 1st A.D.J., Budaun and investigation with respect to remaining 3 accused namely Shraddha Gupta, Shrawan Gupta and one Kamlesh is still going on.
From perusal of record it transpires that an application was filed by respondent no. 7 on 12.5.2017 for transferring the investigation of the case from Crime Branch to C.B.I. but no action was taken by the authorities promptly and the application was kept pending. In the meanwhile, charge-sheet was filed against 8 accused, the trial against them is going on. The application dated 12.5.2017 after several months of its filing was taken up by the authorities and by order dated 15.1.2018 the investigation was transferred to the C.B.C.I.D. although the prayer was made in the said application for transferring the matter to C.B.I. Against the order dated 15.1.2018, the respondent no. 7 filed an application objecting to the said transfer order to C.B.C.I.D. and stated that she is now fully satisfied with the investigation conducted by the Crime Branch and prayed that the investigation be sent back to Crime Branch, Bareilly who have been conducting the investigation for the last 1 and 1/2 years and had also filed chargesheet against eight accused, as such the investigation was again transferred back to Crime Branch Bareilly on 29.1.2018.
Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that the investigation may be conducted under the supervision of any other authority except the S.P. Crime Branch, Bareilly. The aforesaid arguments advanced by learned counsel for the petitioner appears to be wholly misconceived. The order dated 30.11.2017 was earlier passed by Mr. Sulkhan Singh, the Director General of Police, Uttar Pradesh wherein it has been clearly stated that investigation made by the Crime Branch shall be under the supervision on day-to-day basis of S.S.P. Bareilly. The petitioner has not raised any grievance against S.S.P. Bareilly. Under the circumstances, we find no infirmity or illegality in the order dated 29.1.2018 passed by respondent no. 1. Moreover, the petitioner who is an accused has no right to choose the investigating agency.
The Crime Branch had been conducting the investigation for more than 1 and 1/2 years and also submitted charge-sheet against 8 persons out of 11 persons whose trial is going on. The investigation being conducted by the Crime Branch under the supervision of S.S.P. Bareilly on the day-to-day basis, therefore, we find no illegality in the order passed by respondent no. 1 and calls for no intereference. The petition lacks merit and is liable to be dismissed. The writ petition stands dismissed.
Order Date :- 14.5.2018/Gss
