Allahabad High Court
M/S Krishana Steels vs State Of U P And Another on 23 May, 2022
Bench: Manish Kumar
HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT ALLAHABAD
?Court No. - 92
Case :- MATTERS UNDER ARTICLE 227 No. - 2443 of 2020
Petitioner :- M/S Krishana Steels
Respondent :- State Of U P And Another
Counsel for Petitioner :- Anurag Sharma
Counsel for Respondent :- G.A.
Hon'ble Manish Kumar,J.
The present petition has been preferred for setting aside the order dated 12.03.2020 passed by Additional District and Sessions Judge,court no. 7, Ghaziabad in Criminal Revision No. 372 of 2019 and order dated 25.09.2019 passed by Chief Judicial Magistrate, Ghaziabad refusing to release the case property of the petitioner (Iron Bar TMT/Iron Bar quantity about 50,500 kgs) recovered in connection with case crime no. 1166/2019 under Section 414 IPC, Police Station Kavi Nagar, District Ghaziabad after furnishing reliable security during the pendency of the trial pending before the court below.
Learned counsel for the applicant has submitted that applicant has purchased the said Iron Bar TMT/Iron rod from Shine Enterprises, Om Enterprises and Alliance Traders and in support of his submission, he draws the attention of this Court to certain documents i.e. Invoices and GST registration showing the purchase made by the petitioner from these firms. It is further submitted that the charge-sheet has been filed in the case after the investigation and the case property i.e. iron bars are lying open since the year 2019 and perishing due to the effect of nature. It is further submitted that as per Section 451 Cr.P.C., the court below has rejected the application for release on the ground that the address of the firm which has been shown were not found on that address. Even the firm of the petitioner was not found on the address provided. In place of considering that the case property is a perishable item, which is affected by the nature due to rust etc. and its value will be depreciated as the case property is lying in open. It is further submitted that the address in the release application is the same address of the firm of the petitioner which has been mentioned in the registration certificate. It is further submitted that except the petitioner, no other person has claimed the said case property. Learned counsel for the applicant has relied upon the judgment of Hon'ble Supreme Court in the case of Sundarbhai Ambalal Desai vs. State of Gujarat [(2002) 10 SCC 283].
On the other hand, learned AGA has submitted that it is yet to be determined as to who is the owner of the property as it has been confiscated or seized as a stolen property.
After hearing learned counsel for the respective parties and going through the record as well as the judgment of Hon'ble the Supreme Court in the case of Sundarbhai Ambalal Desai (supra), in which Hon'ble the Supreme Court had ordered to release gold ornaments, liquor and vehicle etc, it is found that the Iron Bars or TMT Saria is lying in the open since the year 2019 and getting rust due to the rains etc.; the charge-sheet has already been filed and the petitioner is ready to give security and an undertaking that whenever the court will direct, the case property will be produced. As the value of the case property deteriorates due to rusting and may become unusable, hence, it is directed that a detailed panchnama of those articles be prepared, taking photographs and samples of such articles and a bond that such articles will be produced, if required, at the time of trial and after taking proper security, the same shall be released by the trial court in favour of the petitioner within a period of four weeks from the date of moving the application along with the certified copy of this order.
With the aforesaid observation, the order dated 12.03.2020 passed by Additional District and Sessions Judge,court no. 7, Ghaziabad in Criminal Revision No. 372 of 2019 and order dated 25.09.2019 passed by Chief Judicial Magistrate, Ghaziabad refusing to release the case property of the petitioner (Iron Bar TMT/Iron Bar quantity about 50,500 kgs) recovered in connection with case crime no. 1166/2019 under Section 414 IPC, Police Station Kavi Nagar, District Ghaziabad are set aside.
Present application/petition is accordingly allowed.
Order Date :- 23.5.2022
Nitesh
