Dwarika Das Rathi vs The State Of Chhattisgarh

NON-REPORTABLE IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION

CRIMINAL APPEAL NO(S). 1267/2018 (ARISING FROM SLP (CRL) NOS.587/2017)

DWARIKA DAS RATHI APPELLANT(S)

VERSUS

THE STATE OF CHHATTISGARH RESPONDENT(S)

J U D G M E N T

KURIAN, J.

Leave granted.

2. The appellant approached this Court aggrieved by

the denial of protection under Section 438 Cr.P.C.

The appellant is an accused in Crime No.123 of 2016

registered at Police Station Vidhan Sabha, Raipur,

Chhattisgarh for offences punishable under Section

420 and 409 of the IPC read with Sections 3 and 7 of

the Essential Commodities Act. The crux of the

accusation is that the appellant who was running a

rice mill did not return the required quantity of

rice after custom milling. The deficit, according to

the Investigating Officer, is to the tune of

Rs.2,71,34,937/-. When the matter came be before

Signature Not Verified this Court, on 25.01.2017, this Court passed the Digitally signed by NARENDRA PRASAD Date: 2018.10.13 11:01:08 IST Reason: following order:-

“Issue notice. On deposit of

1 Rs.2,71,34,937/- with the State

Government/Chhattisgarh State Cooperative

Marketing Federation within a period of three

weeks from today, with a further condition

that the petitioner joins and cooperates with

the investigation, in case the petitioner is

arrested, he shall be released by the Officer

concerned on personal bond of Rs.1,00,000/-

(rupees One Lac) executed by the petitioner

with two solvent sureties for the like

amount.”

3. The appellant has since reported that he could

not raise that much amount of money. On that

submission, this Court directed the State to attach

the immovable properties of the appellant and put

them to sale. Learned counsel appearing for the

State submits that despite several attempts, the sale

could not fructify.

4. On 08.05.2018, this Court, on the submission that

the appellant was entitled to get certain

compensation in respect of the acquisition of his

land, issued direction to the Land Acquisition

Collector to disburse that amount to the State.

5. Having heard the learned counsel for the

appellant and learned counsel for the State, we do

not find it necessary to continue this matter any

2 further before us. The Investigating Officer is free

to continue with his investigation. The State is

permitted to attach all the immovable properties of

the appellant and the bank accounts so as to cover up

the deficit of the deposit, as directed by this

Court.

6. The Trial Court is directed to pass appropriate

orders at the time of conclusion of the trial with

regard to the deposit/recovery already made.

7. The interim protection granted by this Court vide

order 25.01.2017 is made absolute.

8. However, in case there is violation of any of the

conditions of the bail, it will be open to the

Investigating Officer to approach the Trail Court for

cancellation of bail. We also make it clear that in

case the appellant is summoned, after submission of

the final report by the Investigating Officer, the

appellant will appear before the Court and seek

regular bail.

9. We also permit the appellant to seek appropriate

orders with regard to the amount as presently

quantified by the Investigating Officer based on

which alone this Court issued direction for deposit,

or for varying the quantum as calculated by the

Investigating Officer or with regard to any other

dispute on the amount already recovered.

10. The appeal is, accordingly, disposed of.

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11. Pending applications, if any, shall stand disposed of.

.......................J. [KURIAN JOSEPH]

.......................J. [S. ABDUL NAZEER] NEW DELHI;

OCTOBER 09, 2018.

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