1 2025:CGHC:12378 NAFR HIGH COURT OF CHHATTISGARH AT BILASPUR CRMP No. 918 of 2025 Esaf Small Finance Bank Through Branch Manager- Debashis Mishra, Aged About-27 Years, Esaf Small Finance Bank, Branch- Korba C.G. ... Petitioner versus 1 - The State Of Chhattisgarh Through Station House Officer Of Police Station Civil Line Rampur- District- Korba (C.G.) 2-The Superintendent Of Police Korba, District- Korba (C.G.) 3 - Birendra Girna S/o Govinda Girna R/o Baratunda, Bargarh, Paikamal Odisha- Current Address- Vinonba Nagar, Boirdadar, Raigarh, C.G. (Accused) ... Respondents For Petitioner : Mr. Shubham Dev Mallick, Advocate For State : Ms. Vaishali Mahilong, Panel lawyer (Hon’ble Shri Justice Arvind Kumar Verma) Order on Board 12/03/2025 1) The present petition has been filed by the petitioner under Section 528 of the Bhartiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 being aggrieved by the inaction on the part of the concerned Police Authorities for not arresting the accused though after passing of more than seven months. Even the charge sheet has not been filed and due to which the trial has not started till date. 2 2) Brief facts of the case are such that respondent no. 3 worked as a Teller at the Korba Branch of Esaf Small Finance Bank and was the custodian of Set-1 Cash vault keys. On 02.08.2024 respondent no. 3 did not reported to the branch for the work and the cash box was opened using some duplicate keys after obtaining necessary approvals, while opening the cash box it was found that Rs. 5Lacs were missing. Thereafter several complaints were received from 14 customers of the same bank against the respondent no. 3 alleging that he has absconded with the cash of those customers and during inquiry it was found that the cashier after taking money from the customers, he has not deposited the cash in bank account of the complainants. In this way respondent no. 3 has embezzled a total amount of Rs. 9,94,800/- from the bank and customers. 3) Respondent no. 3 has not been arrested and no charge sheet has been filed till date. 4) Learned counsel for the petitioner most humbly submitted that though an FIR has been registered against the Respondent no. 3, it is observed that no substantial progress has been made in the investigation and even after a period of more than 07 months the concerned Police has neither arrested him nor they presented the charge sheet in the present case, the concerned branch in charge has also made application regarding constitution of a special investigation team but till date no actions has been taken by the Police Authorities. Therefore, he prays before this court to allow the instant petition and direct the concerned police to arrest the accused and submit the charge sheet expeditiously and also direct the Superintendent of Police to constitute Special Investigation 3 Team and further action be taken against the accused in the interest of justice. 5) Per contra, learned counsel for the State opposes the prayer made by the learned counsel for the petitioner. 6) I have heard learned counsel for the respective parties, and perused the record with utmost circumspection. 7) On bare perusal of the record it transpires that respondent no. 3 worked as a Teller at the Korba branch of Esaf Small Finance Bank and was a custodian of Set -01 cash vault keys. On 02.08.2024 he did not reported to his work and on opening the cash box it was found that Rs. 5Lacs were missing. Upon this an FIR was lodged against him for the offence punishable under Section 316(5) of BNS Act. Thereafter, 14 different customers of the same bank alleged that the respondent no. 3 has absconded after taking the money from the customers and has not deposited the cash in the bank accounts of the complainants. Upon which another FIR was lodged against him by one customer named Ranjeet Kumar Rahtia on 09.08.2024 for the offence punishable under Section 318(4) of BNS Act. 8) Section 193 of BNSS Act (Earlier covered under Section 173 of Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 ) deals with the report of Police Officer on completion of investigation which states that the investigation under this chapter to be completed without any unnecessary delay. 9) Looking to the facts and circumstances of the case, it is pertinent that two subsequent FIR’s have been lodged against the respondent no. 3 and even after seven months of lodging of the said FIR no action has been 4 taken till date by the concerned authority. No arrest has been made and no charge sheet has been filed which has caused deliberate delay in the case. Therefore, Respondent no. 2/Superintendent of Police, Korba, District Korba, Chhattisgarh shall direct the concerned I.O to complete the said investigation as soon as possible if there is no legal impediment and forward the final report to the concerned Magistrate as per provisions of Section 193 of BNSS, 2023 for further proceedings. 10) With the aforesaid direction, the present criminal miscellaneous petition stands disposed of. sd/- (Arvind Kumar Verma) JUDGE alfiza