Jharkhand High Court
Md. Ezhar Ansari @ Ijhar Ansari @ Tunu ... vs The State Of Jharkhand on 23 June, 2025
Author: Anil Kumar Choudhary
Bench: Anil Kumar Choudhary
(2025:JHHC:16473)
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JHARKHAND AT RANCHI
Cr.M.P. No. 605 of 2024
Md. Ezhar Ansari @ Ijhar Ansari @ Tunu Malik, aged about 60 years,
son of late Abdul Rashid, resident of Village-Millat Colony, Pelawal
Road, P.O. & P.S.-Katkamsandi, Dist.-Hazaribag (Jharkhand)
.... Petitioner
Versus
The State of Jharkhand
.... Opp. Party
PRESENT
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE ANIL KUMAR CHOUDHARY
.....
For the Petitioners : Mr. Lal C.N. Shahedeo, Advocate
: Mr. Yash R. Gupta, Advocate
: Ms. Shaurya Dwivedi, Advocate
For the State : Mr. S.K. Tiwari, Spl. P.P.
.....
By the Court:-
1. Heard the parties.
2. This criminal miscellaneous petition has been filed invoking the
jurisdiction of this Court under Section 482 Cr.P.C. with a prayer
to quash and set aside the entire criminal proceeding arising out
of First Information Report bearing Mandu P.S. Case No. 10 of
2019 in which after submission of charge sheet, cognizance has
been taken by the learned A.C.J.M., Ramgarh vide order dated
04.12.2020 in respect of the offences punishable under Sections
420, 468, 469, and 120B of Indian Penal Code and under Section 30
of Coal Mines (Nationalization) Act.
3. The brief fact of the case is that the petitioner is the owner of a
truck which was apprehended by police loaded with steam coal
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which was taken to be sold in Varanasi instead of delivering it to
Om Coke Industries Bharechnagar, Sandi Ramgarh for which
transport challan and invoice challan had been issued.
4. It is submitted by the learned counsel for the petitioner that the
petitioner is in the business of preparing coke and no role has
been attributed to the petitioner in the entire charge sheet. It is
next submitted by the learned counsel for the petitioner that even
if the entire allegation made against the petitioner are considered
to be true in its entirety, still, no offence either of cheating or
forgery for the purpose of cheating or criminal conspiracy is made
out against the petitioner and at best it will amount to attempt of
misappropriating the steam coal. It is then submitted by the
learned counsel for the petitioner that as per Rule 11 of Jharkhand
Minerals (Prevention of Illegal Mining, Transportation & Storage)
Rules, 2017, the Sub-Inspector of police is not authorized to seize
any vehicle for transporting minerals. It is also submitted by the
learned counsel for the petitioner that neither any offence of
cheating is made out in the facts of the case nor the offence of
forgery is made out against the petitioner. Relying upon the
judgment of this Court in the case of Sudhir Kumar Goyal & Anr.
Vs. The State of Jharkhand in Cr.M.P. No. 2534 of 2021 dated
10.04.2024, it is submitted by the learned counsel for the petitioner
that in the facts of that case, it was observed by this court that, in
order to constitute the offence of cheating, it has to be proved that
the accused had the knowledge that his act was likely to cause
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wrongful loss to the person cheated and whose interest the
offender is bound to protect, hence, this Court held that the
offence punishable under Section 418 of Indian Penal Code is not
made out.
5. Learned counsel for the petitioner next relied upon the judgment
of a coordinate Bench of this Court in the case of Rajesh Kumar
Agrawal vs. The State of Jharkhand & Anr. in Cr.M.P. No. 1628
of 2013 dated 20.07.2016, wherein the coordinate Bench held that
in case of deviation made by a vehicle, the same cannot be termed
as a criminal offence.
6. It is further submitted by the learned counsel for the petitioner
that deviation will not give rise to any of the offences involved in
this case. It is next submitted by the learned counsel for the
petitioner that in paragraph no. 49 of the case diary, the statement
of the computer operator-Prem Prakash has been mentioned and
he has categorically stated that the document relating to coal
loaded in a truck bearing no. JH-02-AR-6640 is genuine document
and the said document was prepared as per his knowledge hence,
it is submitted that as the document was found to be genuine, the
offence of forgery is also not made out and in the absence of any
offence of forgery the offence punishable under Section 468, 469 or
471 of Indian Penal Code is also not made out. It is next submitted
by the learned counsel for the petitioner that there is no allegation
against the petitioner of dishonestly or fraudulently inducing
anybody to part with any property and in the absence of the same,
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the offence punishable under Section 420 of Indian Penal Code is
not made out. It is further submitted by the learned counsel for
the petitioner that so far as the offence punishable under Section
30 of Coal Mines (Nationalization) Act, 1973 is concerned, in the
absence of any allegation that the petitioner wrongfully withheld
any property in his possession, custody or control from the
Central Government or the State Government company nor there
being any allegation against the petitioner of wrongfully
obtaining possession or retaining any property and also in the
absence of any allegation against the petitioner of wrongfully
removing or destroying any property of any coal mine, the offence
punishable under Section 30 of Coal Mines (Nationalization) Act,
1973 is not made out. It is therefore submitted that the prayer as
made in this criminal miscellaneous petition be allowed.
7. The learned Special Public Prosecutor submits that since the
prayer made in this criminal miscellaneous petition is covered by
the judgment of coordinate Benches as referred to above, hence, it
is submitted that the State has no objection to the prayer made by
the petitioner in this criminal miscellaneous petition.
8. Having heard the submissions made at the Bar and after going
through the materials available in the record, it is pertinent to
mention here that as has been mentioned in paragraph no. 49 of
the case diary, the witness-Prem Prakash, who was the computer
operator in Toppo Colliery, Project of Ramgarh has verified the
genuineness of the documents being carried by the driver of the
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truck in question, which appears to be genuine document and in
the absence of any contrary material or allegation, this Court has
no hesitation in holding that the offence of forgery is not made out
even if the entire allegation made against the petitioner are
considered to be true and in the absence of any forgery having
been committed by the petitioner or anyone else, none of the
offence punishable under Sections 468 and 469 of Indian Penal
Code is made out.
9. So far as the offence punishable under Section 420 of Indian
Penal Code is concerned, there is no allegation against the
petitioner of dishonestly or fraudulently inducing anybody to part
with any property. Under such circumstances, the offence
punishable under Sections 420 of Indian Penal Code is not made
out. It is also pertinent to mention here that Coal Mines
(Nationalization) Act, 1973 has since been repealed vide the
Repealing and Amending (Second) Act, 2017, Act 4 of 2018 with
effect from 05.01.2018. So, no cognizance could have been taken
by the trial court in respect of the said offence.
10. Because of the discussions made above, as none of the offences
in respect of which FIR has been registered, charge sheet has been
submitted and cognizance of the offences having been taken is
made out against the petitioner, therefore, this Court has no
hesitation in holding that continuation of the criminal proceeding
against the petitioner will amount to abuse of process of the law
and this is a fit case where the entire criminal proceeding arising
(2025:JHHC:16473)
out of First Information Report bearing Mandu P.S. Case No. 10 of
2019 including the order taking cognizance dated 04.12.2020
passed by the learned A.C.J.M., Ramgarh be quashed and set
aside.
11. Accordingly, the entire criminal proceeding arising out of First
Information Report bearing Mandu P.S. Case No. 10 of 2019
including the order taking cognizance dated 04.12.2020 passed by
the learned A.C.J.M., Ramgarh is quashed and set aside.
12. In the result, this criminal miscellaneous petition is allowed.
(Anil Kumar Choudhary, J.)
High Court of Jharkhand, Ranchi
Dated the 23rd June, 2025
AFR/Sonu-Gunjan/-
