1 2025:CGHC:14772-DB NAFR HIGH COURT OF CHHATTISGARH AT BILASPUR CRMP No. 950 of 2025 1 - M. K. Rathaur S/o Late Radheshyam Rathaur, Aged About 63 Years, R/o Ganganagar Phase-2 Mangla, Bilaspur Distt - Bilaspur Chhattisgarh ... Petitioner versus 1 - State of Chhattisgarh Through - Station In-Charge, Police Station - Shankargarh Distt - Balrampur-Ramanujganj Chhattisgarh 2 - Sandeep Ekka S/o Sobhnath Ekka Aged About 25 Years Occupation - Student R/o Shivpara, Gandhinagar, P.S. - Gandhinagar (Ambikapur) Distt - Surguja Chhattisgarh ... Respondents For Petitioner : Mr. A.N. Pandey, Advocate. (through video conferencing) For State : Mr. Shaleen Singh Baghel, Deputy Govt. Advocate. Hon'ble Shri Ramesh Sinha, Chief Justice Hon'ble Shri Ravindra Kumar Agrawal, Judge Order on Board Per Ramesh Sinha, Chief Justice 27-03-2025 1. The present petition has been filed with the following prayer:- “It is therefore prayed that this Hon’ble Court may kindly be pleased to allow this petition and quashed the entire charge sheet filed by the Police Station- Shankargarh, Distt- Balrampur- Ramanujganj (C.G.) on 13.12.2024 before the learned Judicial Magistrate First Class – Rajpur, Distt- Digitally signed by MOHAMMAD AADIL KHAN 2 Balrampur- Ramanujganj (C.G.) in respect of Crime no. 101/2024 registered at Police Station- Shankargarh, Distt- Balrampur- Ramanujganj (C.G.) for the alleged offence U/s 409, 420, 467, 468 & 471 of Indian Penal Code 1860 in respect of petitioner ANNEXURE P/2 and further be pleased to quashed the entire criminal proceeding of criminal case no.2455/2024 “State of C.G. Vs Mahendra Kumar Rathaur & Others” which is pending before the learned Judicial Magistrate First Class – Rajpur, Distt- Balrampur- Ramanujganj (C.G) ANNEXURE P/3 in respect of petitioner, “in the interest of justice.” 2. The facts of the prosecution case, as mentioned in the petition, are that, the complainant Sandeep Ekka who is the R.T.I worker and student of law, made a complaint before the police station - Shankargarh on 08-09-2018, alleging that in the year 2008, amount of Rs.18,46,000/- was sanctioned for construction of pond at Village- Manoharpur and the working agency is the agriculture department, but the working agency did not complete the 100% work at pond and tried to misappropriate the sanctioned amount of Rs.10,77,000/- for construction of pond at Village- Manoharpur, but on the complaint made by the complainant, police has not taken any action, then he filed an complaint case under section 156(3) of Cr.P.C before the learned JMFC-Rajpur, Distt- Balrampur- Ramanujganj (C.G) in the month of June 2022. On the basis of complaint filed by the complainant, learned Magistrate directed to the concern police station Shankargarh to 3 register the F.I.R against the petitioner and other co-accused persons vide memo dated 12-10-2022 and as per direction of learned Magistrate, police registered the alleged offences under section 409, 420, 467, 468 and 471 of I.P.C against the petitioner and other accused persons on dated 20-05-2024. Copy of F.I.R is annexed as Annexure- P/1. After completion of the investigation, police filed the charge sheet before the learned Judicial Magistrate First Class, Rajpur, District Balrampur- Ramanujganj (C.G.) on 13-12-2024 against the present petitioner and other two co-accused persons for the alleged offences U/s 409, 420, 467, 468 and 471 of the IPC. After filing of the charge sheet the case was registered as Criminal Case No.2455/2024 (State of C.G. Vs. Mahendra Kumar Rathaur and others) which is pending before the learned Judicial Magistrate First Class, Rajpur, District Balrampur- Ramanujganj (C.G.). 3. Learned counsel for the petitioner vehemently argued that in the departmental enquiry which was conducted by the department against the petitioner about the present incident for which the FIR has been lodged, the petitioner who was suspended and thereafter, his suspension has been revoked by the order dated 27-12-2022 holding that the inspection report, work was properly done and the complaint has been lodged after about 14 years by an RTI activist and he states that the petitioner now has retired and hence, the proceeding be quashed. 4. Considering the fact that merely because the petitioner who was 4 placed under suspension and his suspension has been revoked by the department with respect to the allegations which have been made in the impugned FIR, cannot be a ground for quashing of the proceedings and as charge sheet has been submitted and the case is fixed for framing of charge before the learned trial Court, we are not inclined to interfere in the matter as it cannot be said that no cognizable offence is disclosed on the basis of charge sheet. Accordingly, the present petition is dismissed. Sd/- Sd/- (Ravindra Kumar Agrawal) (Ramesh Sinha) Judge Chief Justice Aadil