Pawan Malhan vs The State Of Telangana And 17 ...
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     THE HON'BLE SMT. JUSTICE LALITHA KANNEGANTI

                WRIT PETITION No. 21302 OF 2019

O R D E R:

Initially, the Writ Petition was filed seeking the

following relief:

" to issue a writ or an order or a direction, more particularly a writ in the nature of Mandamus declaring the action of Respondent Nos. 4 to 12 in conducting investigation into multiple FIRs. in relation to same set of facts as illegal, arbitrary and violaive of Articles 14, 19, 20, 21 and 22 of the Constitution of India and consequently, direct that Cr.No. 440/2019 on the file of P.S. Gachibowli, Cr.No. 180/2019 on the file of P.S. Madhapur, Crime No. 93 of 2017 on the file of P.S. Adilabad Town-1, Crime No. 578 of 2019 on the file of P.S. Meerpet, Crime No. 1122 of 2019 on the file of P.S. Rajendernagar, Crime No. 572 of 2019 on the file of P.S. KPHB Colony and other crimes if any pending be transferred to a single investigating agency to deal with the same as a single case and treat either one of them registered as an FIR under Section 154 Cr.P.C. and other FIRs. can be treated as a statement under S.162 Cr.P.C.".

2. I.A.No. 1 of 2022 is filed for amendment of prayer as

under:

" The Hon'ble Court may be pleased to issue a writ or an order or a direction, more particularly a writ in the nature of mandamus declaring the action of Respondents 4 to 10 in conducting investigation into multiple FIRs. in relation to same set of facts as illegal, arbitrary and violative of Articles 14, 19, 20, 21 and 22 of the Constitution of India and consequently, direct that Crime No. 338 of 2008 on the file of P.S. Hanamkonda,

Warangal, Crime No. 93 of 2017 on the file of P.S. I Town, Adilabad, Cr.No. 180/2019 on the file of P.S. Madhapur (Guttala), Cyberabad, Cr.No. 440 of 2019 on the file of P.S. Gachibowli, Cyberabad, Crime No. 572 of 2019 on the file of P.S. KPHB Colony, Cyberabad, Crime No. 1122 of 2019 on the file of P.S. Rajendernagar, Crime No. 578 of 2019 on the file of P.S. Meerpet, Rachakonda, Crime No. 619 of 2019 on the file of P.S. Shadnagar, Cyberabad, Crime No. 583 of 2019 on the file of P.S. R.C. Puram, Cyberabad and other crimes if any pending be transferred to first FIR registered in the State of Telangana i.e. Crime NO. 338 of 2008 on the file of P.S. Hanamkonda, Warangal which is numbered as C.C.No. 2 of 2016 pending before Hon'ble I Principal Senior Civil Judge Court at Warangal to deal as a single case and other FIRs. be treated as a statement under S. 161 Cr.P.C. and pass such other order or orders as this Hon'ble Court may deem fit and proper in the interests of justice.'

3. Sri P. Vishnuvardhan Reddy, learned counsel

representing Sri R. Balaraj Goud, learned counsel for the

petitioners submits that petitioner No.1 is the Managing

Director of e-BIZ.com. Pvt. Ltd., which is into Direct Selling

Entity and is registered /incorporated with the Registrar of

Companies as per the Companies Act, 1956. He submits that in

the Memorandum of Association of the company, it is stated

that the company is created to do business in whole of India or

abroad and the company is working directly in accordance with

the Model Framework for guidelines on direct selling as

published in the Gazette of India by the Central Government

and even the Government of India has listed the company as

Direct Selling Entity at Sl.No. 135. It is submitted that the

company does not collect any amount for joining in the

company and any person can join the company without any cost

as retailer and do business by selling its product / services to

consumers. It is submitted that in addition to that, the

company provides 18 computer courses absolutely free of cost

to its retailers and also the company is not running any pyramid

scheme. It is further submitted that on 04.02.2019, the

petitioners came to know that FIR No. 93 of 2017 dated

21.04.2017 is registered on the file of Adilabad Police Station for

the offences under Section 420 read with Section 34 IPC. and

Section 4 of Prize Chits and Money Circulation Scheme

(Banning) Act, 1978. It is submitted that the police from

Adilabad-I Town Police Station along with police from Noida

reached the office premises of the company and made inquiry

from the office staff and petitioner No.1 is not available in the

office. Learned counsel submits that later, the petitioners found

that the said team is here in connection with FIR No. 93 of 2017

dated 21.04.2017 and they filed Crl.P.No. 798 of 2019 before

this Court to quash the proceedings in FIR No. 93 of 2017 and

the same is pending. It is submitted that thereafter, multiple

FIRs. were registered and along with Crime No. 93 of 2017, six

FIRs., were registered at Adilabad Town, Madhapur, Gachibowli,

KPHB Colony, Rajendernagar and Meerpet Police Stations. It is

also submitted that further, on 08.03.2019, the officers of the

4th respondent had taken away the 2nd petitioner forcibly and

illegally along with his phone, laptop and the car by snatching

the same from him and manhandled him. Learned counsel

submits that the 1st petitioner filed Habeas Corpus Petition on

12.03.2019 for petitioner No.2 and on the same day, the 4th

respondent held a press conference by falsely declaring that the

2nd petitioner has been arrested in connection with Crime No.

180 of 2019. He submits that on 12.03.2019, officers of the 4th

respondent released the 2nd petitioner from illegal custody after

five days stating that he should withdraw Habeas Corpus

petition. He further submits that the petitioners filed Writ

Petition No. 5132 of 2019 questioning the action of the

respondents in registering criminal cases against the company

and its directors as illegal and in violation of the guidelines

issued by the Central Government and Telangana Government.

According to the learned Senior Counsel, multiple FIRs. were

registered against the petitioners in relation to the same facts.

It is submitted that the petitioners were picked up on

19.08.2019 after they had attended the matter in Delhi High

Court bearing Civil Miscellaneous Application No. 36962 of

2019 in Writ Petition (C) No. 8332 of 2019 and kept the car

Hyundai Creta registered at Delhi bearing No. DL 3C CP 8623 in

the name of the 2nd petitioner in possession and custody at

Mayur Vihar Police Station, Delhi and took both of them to

Hyderabad. It is submitted that Habeas Corpus Petition ie.

Writ Petition (Crl) No. 2316 of 2019 was filed but due to

subsequent events, the petitioners were arrested by the officers

of the 4th respondent in Crime No. 572 of 2019 dated

09.08.2019. Learned counsel further submits that the 4th

respondent directed Respondents 5 to 10 to issue notice under

Section 41(A) Cr.P.C. to the distributors of the company and

accordingly, 500 notices every day are being issued by the

officers of the 4th respondent and they are pressurizing the

distributors to complain against the company and there is lot of

harassment to the petitioners. Hence, the petitioners have come

up before this Court with the above prayer.

4. By virtue of the amendment ordered in I.A.No. 1 of

2022, the petitioners are seeking to transfer the cases to the

Courts at Hanamkonda where C.C. is numbered as 2 of 2016

and pending before the I Principal Senior Civil Judge Court at

Warangal to deal as a single case and other FIRs., be treated as

a statement under Section 161 Cr.P.C.

5. Learned counsel submits that though each and

every victim has lodged different complaints, they cannot be

taken as different complaints as the nature of allegations in the

complaints is one and the same and against the same company,

same accused. According to the learned counsel, prosecuting

the petitioners by various Courts of different areas for the same

allegations is violative of Article 20(2) of the Constitution of

India. He submits that there are nine similar cases pending in

various Courts of different police stations, which are as follows:

Sl.No.   FIR No.       Date            Police Station      Under Section

1.       338/2008      5/8/2008        Hanamkonda,         385, 420 IPC. &
                                       Warangal,           S. 4,5,6 r/w 2(C),
                                       Telangana           3    of    PC   &
                                                           MCSBA
2.       93/2017       21/4/2017       I Town, Adilabad,   S.420 r/w 34 IPC
                                       Telangana           & S.4 of PC &
                                                           MCSBA
3.       180/2019      5/3/2019        Madhapur(Gutala)    S.406,420,506
                                       Cyberabad,          IPC & S.3,4,5,6
                                       Telangana           of PC & MCSBA
4.       440/2019      8/8/2019        Gachibowli,         S.406,420,506
                                       Cyberabad,          IPC. & S.3,4,5,6
                                       Telangana           r/w 2(c) of PC &
                                                           MCSBA
5.       572/2019      9/8/2019        KPHB Colony,        S. 406,420,506
                                       Cyberabad           IPC           and
                                                           S.3,4,5,6     r/w
                                                           2(c) of PC &
                                                           MCBA
6.       1122/2019     10/8/2019       Rajendernagar,      406,420,506 r/w
                                       Cyberabad,          34      IPC.    S.
                                       Telangana           3,4,5,6 r/w 2(c)
                                                           of PC & MCSBA

7.       578/2019      25/8/2019       Meerpet,            S.406,420 IPC &
                                       Rachakonda,         S.3,3,4,5,6 r/w
                                                           2(c) of PC &





                                                            MCSBA
8.        619/19         30/9/2019        Shadnagar,        S.406,420,506
                                          Cyberabad         r/w 34 IPC. &
                                                            S.3,4,5,6     r/w
                                                            2(c) of PC &
                                                            MCSBA
9.        583/2019       25/10/2019       RC Puram,         S. 406,420,506
                                          Cyberabad         IPC.
                                                            S.3,4,5,6 of PC &
                                                            MCSBA

It is submitted that all the cases are similar in

nature and series of complaints lodged by the alleged victims.

Therefore, in order to meet the ends of justice and also to avoid

conflict of judgments, it is necessary to club all the cases and

try along with Crime No. 338 of 2008 of Hanamkonda Police

Station which is numbered as C.C.No. 2 of 2016 pending before

the I Principal Senior Civil Judge Court at Warangal. He also

relied on the judgment of the Hon'ble Apex court in Radhe

Shyam v. The State of Telangana (W.P.(Crl.) No. 75 of 2020,

dated 12.05.2022), wherein it is held as below:

" The FIRs. referred to above, filed in different States under the Indian Penal Code can proceed as one set of complaint treating FIR No. 710/2018 dated 30.08.2018 as the principal FIR. The FIRs. registered subsequently in the State of Telangana and other States (except States of Haryana, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra) shall stand clubbed with the stated FIR No. 710/2018 and treated as statement under Section 161 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. The investigating officer in criminal case arising from FIR No. 710/2018 will be free t file supplementary charge sheet after collation of all the records concerning other FIRs, which are clubbed in terms of this order. In the event the Investigating Officer in other FIRs. had already

filed the police report under Section 173 of the Code of Criminal Procedure before the concerned Court and the concerned Court had taken cognizance thereof, the said FIRs. and criminal cases would also stand transferred and merged / clubbed along with case arising from FIR No. 710/2018, to be proceeded with in accordance with law. The investigating officer in the stated case (principal case) will be free to file supplementary charge sheet on the basis of material collated during investigation of other FIRs."

6. A counter-affidavit is filed stating that the

petitioners are not falsely implicated by the police and basing on

different complaints of victims, they have registered the

complaints. It is stated that different case are registered at

different places and all of them cannot be clubbed together and

they cannot be transferred to a single investigating agency to

treat it as a single case and it is stated that such relief cannot

be granted.

7. The admitted facts in this case are : basing on a

similar set of allegation, several cases are registered against the

petitioners. Except three cases, all the cases are in Cyberabad.

Only one case is at Rachakonda which is under investigation.

Whereas in FIR No. 338 of 2018 and 93 of 2017, investigation is

completed and charge sheet is also filed. As rightly pointed out

by the learned Senior Counsel appearing for the petitioners, as

per the law laid down by the Hon'ble Apex Court in Radhe

Shyam's case, at several places if the cases are registered,

definitely, it would cause lot of hardship to the accused where

he has to attend one Court after the other. Apart from that

there is every likelihood of conflicting judgments. In all these

cases, the petitioners have to attend the Courts and this process

itself becomes a punishment. Already charge sheet is filed

before the Court at Warangal. It would be appropriate to treat

all the FIRs. as statements under Section 161 Cr.P.C. and after

the investigation is completed, the police can file a

supplementary charge sheet before the Principal Senior Civil

Judge at Warangal in C.C.No. 2 of 2016.

8. Hence, the Writ Petition is allowed. Crime No. 180

of 2019 on the file of Madhapur (Guttala) Police Station, Crime

No. 440 of 2019 of Gachibowli Police Station, Crime No. 572 of

2019 of KPHB Colony Police Station, Crime No. 1122 of 2019 of

Rajendernagar Police Station, Crime No. 619 of 2019 of

Shadnagar Police Station, Crime No. 583 of 2019 of RC Puram

Police Station, Crime No. 578 of 2019 of Meerpet Police Station

shall be transferred to the Economic Offences Wing, Cyberabad.

As already investigation is completed and charge sheet is filed

i.e. C.C.No. 2 of 2016 on the file of the Principal Senior Civil

Judge, Warangal, all these FIRs. shall be treated as a statement

under Section 161 Cr.P.C. and after conducting investigation in

the other crimes, police can file a supplementary charge sheet

before the Principal Senior Civil Judge, Warangal in C.C.No. 2 of

2016.

9. The Miscellaneous Applications, if any shall stand

automatically closed.

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LALITHA KANNEGANTI, J 01st August 2022

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