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Bombay High Court

Bhojraj Rambhau Nagpure vs The State Of Mahrashtra Thr Ps Umred Tah ... on 30 January, 2026

2026:BHC-NAG:1836




              Judgment

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                                               1

               IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY,
                          NAGPUR BENCH, NAGPUR

                    CRIMINAL WRIT PETITION NO.827 OF 2025

              Bhojraj Rambhau Nagpure,
              aged about 40 years, occupation: private,
              r/o By-Pass Chowk, Umred,
              tahsil Umred, district Nagpur.     ..... Petitioner.

                                    :: V E R S U S ::

              1. State of Maharashtra,
              through Police Station Umred,
              tahsil Umred, district Nagpur.

              2. Vilas Ganesh Zodape,
              age: 32, occupation private,
              r/o Milan Chowk, Mangalwari Peth,
              Umred, district Nagpur.            ..... Respondents.
              ==============================
              Shri A.Hunge, Counsel for the Petitioner.
              Shri A.M.Joshi, APP for Respondent No.1/State.
              ==============================
              CORAM : URMILA JOSHI-PHALKE, J.
              DATE : 30/01/2026

              ORAL JUDGMENT

1. Heard learned counsel Shri A.Hunge for the

petitioner and learned APP Shri A.M.Joshi for the

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respondent No.1/State. Rule. Rule is made returnable

forthwith.

2. By this petition, the petitioner is seeking following

reliefs:

"(a) Quash and set-aside order dated 12/08/2025 (Annexure-C) passed by learned Additional Sessions Judge, Nagpur in criminal revision no.208/2023 thereby upholding the order passed by learned Judicial Magistrate First Class, Umred below Exh-13 in RCC No.104/2018 wherein application for discharge filed u/s 239 of Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 was rejected;

(b) Stay further proceedings in RCC NO.104/2018 pending before learned Judicial Magistrate First Class, Umred;

(c) Grant ex parte ad interim relief in terms of prayer clause (b);

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(d) Grant any other relief and issue such other suitable directions as this Hon'ble Court deems fit and proper in the facts and circumstances of the case".

3. Brief facts necessary for disposal of the petition, are

as under:

The petitioner is prosecuted for offences under

Sections 420 and 503 of the IPC and 13 and 15(1) of the

Press and Registration of Books Act, 1867 on the basis of

a report lodged by respondent No.2 (the complainant)

alleging that he is a resident of Umred and acquainted

with the petitioner from last seven years who runs Daily

Newspaper namely "Vidarbha Kalyan." In December

2013, the complainant was appointed as a "President of

District Rashtrawadi Youth Congress." As soon as the

petitioner came to know about his appointment, he

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started insisting him to give advertisement by paying

amount Rs.10,000/- and, therefore, he has given

advertisement dated 25.12.2013 by paying amount of

Rs.10,000/-. Thereafter, he was insisting to pay the

amount and was threatening the complainant that if he

has not paid the amount, he will defame him by writing

an "Article" and accordingly, he has written some

"Articles" by not mentioning his name, but it was referring

to him and thus he has defamed reputation of the

complainant.

It is also alleged by the complainant that the

petitioner approached various persons and under pretext

of one or the other Schemes, extracted money from

various persons and thereby cheated various persons. On

the basis of the said report, the police have registered the

crime against the petitioner.

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4. After registration of the crime, the investigating

officer has recorded relevant statements of witnesses and

as during the investigation, it revealed that the petitioner

has obtained money from various persons, after

completion of investigation, chargesheet was filed against

the petitioner.

5. After filing of the chargesheet, the petitioner has

preferred an application under Section 239 of the Code

for discharge on the ground that perusal of the entire

complaint and the material placed on record, allegations

incorporated in the complaint are vague and the said

complaint does not demonstrate a case under the alleged

offences against the petitioner. Thus, basic ingredients of

offences are not made out and, therefore, he be

discharged from the charges. The said application came

to be rejected by learned Judicial Magistrate First Class,

Umred.

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6. Being aggrieved and dissatisfied with the said

order passed by learned JMFC, Umred, Criminal Revision

No.208/2023 is preferred by the petitioner. Learned

Additional Sessions Judge, Nagpur has also considered

the order passed by learned Magistrate and the entire

record and and dismissed the revision.

Hence, the present petition.

7. Learned counsel for the petitioner has taken me

through the entire chargesheet and submitted that from

the recital of the FIR and the entire investigation papers,

as far as the allegations regarding "defamation" are

concerned, the same are not made out as "Articles"

nowhere reveal that it pertains to the complainant.

He further invited my attention towards various

statements of the witnesses and submitted that it does not

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disclose any offence as far as ingredients of Section 420 of

the IPC are concerned.

He further submitted that the petitioner is not the

aggrieved person and, therefore, the allegation regarding

"cheating" is not made out.

He submitted that, in view of the above, the writ

petition deserves to be allowed.

8. Per contra, learned APP for the State has strongly

opposed the said contentions and taken me through

various statements of witnesses and submitted that any

person can set criminal law in motion. The statements of

witnesses recorded during the investigation disclose that

the petitioner approached various persons from village

Umred and obtained money from them on one or the

other pretext. Thus, the offence under Section 420 of the

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IPC is made out and, therefore, the writ petition being

devoid of merits is liable to be dismissed.

9. Learned counsel for the petitioner has placed

reliance on the following decisions:

1. Deepak Kumar Shrivas and anr vs. State of Chhattisgarh and ors, reported in AIR OnLine 2024 SC 88;

2. Vesa Holding P.Ltd. and anr vs. State of Kerala and ors, reported in 2015 AIR SCW 2245;

3. State of Maharashtra vs. Syed Mohammed Masood and anr, reported in 2009 AIR SCW 6825; and

4. Vinod Natesan vs. State of Kerala and ors, reported in AIR OnLine 2018 SC 987.

10. On going through the entire chargesheet, it reveals

that the petitioner is prosecuted for offences under

Sections 420, 501, 502, and 503 of the IPC and 13 and

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15(1) of the Press and Registration of Books Act, 1867.

As per the allegations, the petitioner, who runs daily

newspaper namely "Vidarbha Kalyan," has published

"Articles" alleging malpractices by the "Youth Leader of

Rashtrawadi Youth Congress". It is further alleged that

the petitioner has obtained money from various persons

for one or the other pretext. The various statements of

witnesses are recorded. The statements of witnesses

namely Rekha Dhnyaneshwar Mule, Premdas Tukaramji

Padole, Balwant Bapurao Padole, Dhanpal Krushnaji

Padole, and Shivaji Paydalwar are recorded.

As far as statements of Premdas Tukaramji Padole

and Dhanpal Krushnaji Padole are concerned, it shows

that from them the petitioner has obtained the money on

the pretext of Scheme under "Chitransh Technology

Private Limited" and obtained amount of Rs.35,000/-.

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The statement of Rekha Dhnyaneshwar Mule

discloses that the petitioner has obtained money from her

by asking her to invest the amount in "Pradhanmantri

Skill Development Government Scheme" and, therefore,

she collected the amount from various girls studying in

her institute for the "Course of Beauty Parlour".

The statement of another person namely Shivaji

Paydalwar shows that the petitioner approached him and

told him that there is a Scheme run by the Government of

India for running the Computer Courses and if he starts

the said course, he will get the handsome amount and

thereby obtain the money from him also.

Thus, various statements of witnesses disclose that

the petitioner approached them and induced them to

invest amounts in various Schemes and he obtained

money from them.

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11. Thus, recital of the FIR is substantiated by other

statements of various witnesses.

12. As far as offence under Section 500 of the IPC i.e.

"defamation" is concerned, definition of "defamation" is

given under Section 499 of the IPC, which says as under:

"Section 499. Whoever, by words either spoken or intended to be read, or by signs or by visible representations, makes or publishes any imputation concerning any person intending to harm, or knowing or having reason to believe that such imputation will harm, the reputation of such person, is said, except in the cases hereinafter expected, to defame that person.

Explanation 1.-- It may amount to defamation to impute anything to a deceased person, if the imputation would harm the reputation of that person if living, and is intended to be hurtful to the feelings of his family or other near relatives.

Explanation 2.-- It may amount to defamation to make an imputation concerning a company or an association or collection of persons as such.

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Explanation 3.-- An imputation in the form of an alternative or expressed ironically, may amount to defamation.

Explanation 4.-- No imputation is said to harm a person's reputation, unless that imputation directly or indirectly, in the estimation of others, lowers the moral or intellectual character of that person, or lowers the character of that person in respect of his caste or of his calling, or lowers the credit of that person, or causes it to be believed that the body of that person is in a loathsome state, or in a state generally considered as disgraceful".

13. Perusal of "Articles" published in the newspaper

run by the petitioner shows that he has narrated about

the Youth Leader who is working in Umred Taluka.

Whether it relates to the complainant or not, an

opportunity is to be granted to the complainant to adduce

evidence to that effect.

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14. As far as offence under Section 420 of the IPC is

concerned, various statements of witnesses show that

amounts were obtained from them on one or the other

pretext and, thereafter, the same were not returned to

them.

15. Learned counsel for the petitioner has placed

reliance on the decision in the case of Deepak Kumar

Shrivas and anr supra wherein the Hon'ble Apex Court

has considered that there was unexplained delay on the

part of the informant in reporting the matter despite a

previous inquiry, which raised doubts about legitimacy of

his claim.

As far as the decision in the case of Vesa Holding

P.Ltd. and anr supra is concerned, the facts in the said

case are not identical with the present case and,

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therefore, the said decision is also not helpful to the

petitioner.

He has also placed reliance on the decision in the

case of State of Maharashtra vs. Syed Mohammed Masood

and anr supra wherein the allegations made in the FIR

and the material collected during the investigation

showing some facts, which should be allowed to be taken

at its logical end and, therefore, the quashing order was

passed.

Perusal of the facts of that case reveals that there

was an agreement between the parties. The said

agreement was executed inter alia providing that the car

would be purchased in the name of investor but would be

used by the Company on rent to others wherefor the

investor would receive a sum of Rs.4,000/- per month for

a period of five years. After 60 months, i.e., at the end of

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the agreement, the investor may take back his car in

proper working condition and there was breach of

contract. In that light, the observation was made by the

Hon'ble Apex Court.

The another decision, in the case of Vinod Natesan

vs. State of Kerala and ors supra, is also in respect of the

dispute between the parties is of a civil dispute and,

therefore, the FIR was quashed.

16. Coming to the facts of the present case, statements

of various witnesses show that the petitioner has obtained

money from them on one or the other reason.

17. As far as offence punishable under Section 420 of

the IPC is concerned, the law is settled that ingredients of

the offence of "cheating" described under Section 415 of

the IPC, are that, "whoever, by deceiving any person,

fraudulently or dishonestly induces the person so

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deceived to deliver any property to any person, or to

consent that any person shall retain any property, or

intentionally induces the person so deceived to do or omit

to do anything which he would not do or omit if he were

not so deceived, and which act or omission causes or is

likely to cause damage or harm to that person in body,

mind, reputation or property, is said to "cheat".

18. To hold a person guilty of "cheating" as defined

under Section 415 of the IPC, it is necessary to show that

he had "fraudulent" or "dishonest" intention at the time of

making a promise with an intention to retain the property.

19. In the light of the above definition, admittedly,

various statements of witnesses disclose "dishonest"

intention on the part of the petitioner.

20. As far as the application for discharge is concerned,

it is a settled principle of law that at the stage of

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considering an application for discharge, the court must

proceed on the assumption that the material which has

been brought on record by the prosecution is true and

evaluate the material in order to determine whether the

facts emerging from the material, taken on its face value,

disclose the existence of the ingredients necessary of the

offence alleged.

21. The Hon'ble Apex Court in the case of State of

Tamil Nadu vs. N.Suresh Rajan and ors, reported in

(2014) 11 SCC 709 adverting to the earlier propositions

of law laid down on this subject has held as under:

"29. We have bestowed our consideration to the rival submissions and the submissions made by Mr. Ranjit Kumar commend us. True it is that at the time of consideration of the applications for discharge, the court cannot act as a mouthpiece of the prosecution or act as a

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post office and may sift evidence in order to find out whether or not the allegations made are groundless so as to pass an order of discharge. It is trite that at the stage of consideration of an application for discharge, the court has to proceed with an assumption that the materials brought on record by the prosecution are true and evaluate the said materials and documents with a view to find out whether the facts emerging therefrom taken at their face value disclose the existence of all the ingredients constituting the alleged offence. At this stage, probative value of the materials has to be gone into and the court is not expected to go deep into the matter and hold that the materials would not warrant a conviction. In our opinion, what needs to be considered is whether there is a ground for presuming that the offence has been committed and not whether a ground for convicting the .....19/-

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accused has been made out. To put it differently, if the court thinks that the accused might have committed the offence on the basis of the materials on record on its probative value, it can frame the charge; though for conviction, the court has to come to the conclusion that the accused has committed the offence. The law does not permit a mini trial at this stage."

22. Thus, the defence of the accused is not to be

looked into at this stage when the application is filed for

discharge. The expression "the record of the case" used in

Section 227 of the Code of Criminal Procedure is to be

understood as the documents and materials, if any,

produced by the prosecution. The provisions of the Code

of Criminal Procedure does not give any right to the

accused to produce any document at the stage of framing

of the charge. The submission of the accused is to be

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confined to the material produced by the investigating

agency. The primary consideration at the stage of framing

of charge is the test of existence of a prima facie case, and

at this stage, the probative value of materials on record

need not be gone into. At the stage of entertaining the

application for discharge under Section 227 of the Code

of Criminal Procedure, the court cannot analyze or direct

the evidence of the prosecution and defence or the points

or possible cross examination of the defence. The case of

the prosecution is to be accepted as it is.

23. In the case of Union of India vs. Prafulla Kumar

Samal and anr, reported in (1973)3 SCC 4, the Hon'ble

Apex Court considered the scope of Section 227 of the

Code of Criminal Procedure. After adverting to the

various decisions, the Hon'ble Apex Court has enumerated

the following principles:

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"(1) That the Judge while considering the question of framing the charges under section 227 of the Code has the undoubted power to sift and weigh the evidence for the limited purpose of finding out whether or not a prima facie case against the accused has been made out.

(2) Where the materials placed before the Court disclose grave suspicion against the accused which has not been properly explained the Court will be, fully justified in framing a charge and proceeding with the trial.

(3) The test to determine a prima facie case would naturally depend upon the facts of each case and it is difficult to lay down a rule of universal application. By and large however if two views are equally possible and the Judge is satisfied that the evidence produced before him while giving rise to some suspicion but not grave suspicion against the accused, he will be fully within his right to discharge the accused.

(4) That in exercising his jurisdiction under section 227 of the Code the Judge which under the present Code is a senior and experienced Judge cannot act merely as a Post

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office or a mouth-piece of the prosecution, but has to consider the broad probabilities of the case, the total effect of the evidence and the documents produced before the Court, any basic infirmities appearing in the case and so on. This however does not mean that the Judge should make a roving enquiry into the pros and cons of the matter and weigh the evidence as if he was conducting a trial."

24. Thus, the catena of decisions explains the scope of

Sections 227 and 228 of the Code of Criminal Procedure

and principles therein are laid down.

25. With the above principles, if the material in the

present case collected during the investigation is

considered, there is no dispute as to fact that various

statements of witnesses disclose prima facie material

against the petitioner and, therefore, considering the

settled law that even a strong suspicion is sufficient to

frame the charge against accused. The trial court as well

as the the revisional court has rejected the application.

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