Allahabad High Court
Naresh Agrawal (As Per ... vs State Of U.P. Thru Prin.Secy. Home ... on 23 June, 2021
Bench: Ramesh Sinha, Ved Prakash Vaish
HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT ALLAHABAD, LUCKNOW BENCH
?Court No. - 10
Case :- MISC. BENCH No. - 12635 of 2021
Petitioner :- Naresh Agrawal (As Per Prosecution Narendra Kr.Agrawal)&Anr.
Respondent :- State Of U.P. Thru Prin.Secy. Home And Ors.
Counsel for Petitioner :- Arun Sinha,Siddhartha Sinha
Counsel for Respondent :- G.A.
Hon'ble Ramesh Sinha,J.
Hon'ble Ved Prakash Vaish,J.
The Court has convened through Video Conferencing.
Heard Shri Arun Sinha, Advocate assisted by Shri Siddhartha Sinha, learned counsel for the petitioners and Ms. Roohi Siddiqui, learned AGA for the State-respondent nos.1 to 4.
The present writ petition has been filed by the petitioners, seeking quashing of the impugned F.I.R. dated 09.06.2021 registered at the instance of the respondent no.4 as Case Crime No.0104 of 2021 under Sections 285, 407, 409, 419, 420, 467, 468 and 471 IPC at police station Fatanpur, District Pratapgarh with a further prayer to stay the arrest of the petitioners.
Learned counsel for the petitioners has argued that the petitioner no.1, aged about 80 years, is the Managing Director of M/s AMKAP Marketing Pvt. Ltd., a petro-chemical distillation plant which is involved in purchasing various petroleum bye-products from PSUs and also manufactures raw materials for various industries, which has been registered in the year 1998 and the Firm is involved in the business for more than 20 years.
He further argues that the consignment in question which was sold to co-accused, is a petroleum product (Hydrocarbon mixture- industrial fuel oil), is alleged to be misused by the co-accused, hence, the petitioner is not liable for such misuse as it is not their responsibility to ascertain the use of the materials sold by them and this fact is also mentioned as per declaration made in the tax invoice issued by the company (Annexure no.4 to the writ petition). So far as petitioner no.2 is concerned, he is a first year B.Tech. student and is neither a partner/Director nor a shareholder in the company run by petitioner no.1 and is just being falsely implicated in the present case to harass petitioner no.1.
Learned AGA opposed the prayer for quashing of the First Information Report and submitted that a cognizable offence is made out against the petitioners in the impugned FIR that in order to defraud the police and other departments the petitioner no.1 directed his employees to prepare the Bilti and Tax Invoice. Further, there is allegation of supply of adulterated, spurious petroleum products. The matter is still under investigation. Thus, the relief as claimed by the petitioners in this writ petition cannot be granted in view of the latest judgment of the Apex Court in Criminal Appeal No.330 of 2021 (M/s Neeharika Infrastructure Pvt. Ltd. vs. The State of Maharashtra and others), and therefore, the present writ petition is liable to be dismissed.
After having examined the submissions advanced by learned counsel for the parties and perused the impugned FIR, we are of the opinion that the impugned FIR discloses cognizable offence against the petitioners and the genuineness of the Bilti and Tax Invoice, seized by the police, is under investigation and the petroleum products, which have been seized, whether they are adulterated and spurious, is subject to the investigation and also whether the allegations made in the impugned FIR are true or not, cannot be adjudged by this Court at this juncture, hence, no interference is called for by this Court in its extraordinary power under Article 226 of the Constitution of India for quashing of the FIR or for grant of any interim relief to the petitioner and also in view of the law laid down in M/s Neeharika Infrastructure Pvt. Ltd. (Supra) passed by the Hon'ble Apex Court vide judgment and order dated 13.04.2021 the present writ petition is dismissed with the liberty to the petitioners to move an appropriate application for anticipatory bail under Section 438 Cr.P.C. before the Competent Court, if so desire.
The party shall file computer generated copy of order downloaded from the official website of High Court Allahabad, self attested by it alongwith a self attested identity proof of the said person(s) (preferably Aadhar Card) mentioning the mobile number(s) to which the said Aadhar Card is linked, before the concerned Court/Authority/Official.
The concerned Court/Authority/Official shall verify the authenticity of the computerized copy of the order from the official website of High Court Allahabad and shall make a declaration of such verification in writing.
(Ved Prakash Vaish, J.) (Ramesh Sinha, J.)
Order Date :- 23.6.2021
Arnima
