Andhra Pradesh High Court - Amravati
Godavarthi Vijaya Rao, vs The State Of A.P on 23 March, 2021
Author: R.Raghunandan Rao
Bench: R.Raghunandan Rao
THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE R.RAGHUNANDAN RAO
CRIMINAL PETITION No.1798 OF 2021
ORDER:-
The 2nd respondent in this petition had filed a complaint registered as Crime No.418 of 2020 in T.Narasapuram Police Station, West Godavari District under Section 468 r/w 34 I.P.C., against the petitioner herein and five others. The complaint was that the petitioner herein along with other accused in the complaint had fabricated and forged patta document for the purposes of illegally occupying the land of the 2nd respondent and had infact forcibly occupied certain parts by removing the survey stones etc.
2. Sri M.P.V.N.V.Sastry, learned counsel for the petitioner submits that the provisions of Section 468 I.P.C. would be attracted only where forgery is committed for the purpose of cheating. He submits that there is no such allegation of cheating anywhere in the complaint and at best the complaint is one of forgery for the purposes of forcibly occupying the land of the 2nd respondent. At best this would amount to a forgery under Section 463 I.P.C., or Section 466 I.P.C., punishable under Section 465 I.P.C for a period of two years.
3. The learned counsel for the petitioner would also submit that there is no cheating or forgery of any document by the petitioner and the present complaint is part of an attempt by 2 the 2nd respondent to take over the land which is not owned by him.
4. Prima facie, there is no allegation of cheating in the FIR. However, these are matters which would require further investigation as to whether there was fabrication or forgery of documents and whether such fabrication or forgery has been done for the purposes of cheating or otherwise.
5. At the present stage, it does not appear that the provisions of Section 468 of I.P.C. would apply.
6. In the circumstances, the Criminal Petition is disposed of with a direction to the Investigating Officer to conduct enquiry strictly in accordance with the guidelines prescribed by the Hon'ble Apex Court in Arnesh Kumar vs. State of Bihar1 and the procedure prescribed in Section 41-A of Cr.P.C. In as much as the offence which can at best be made out in the complaint on this point of view would only attract punishment of two years of imprisonment.
Miscellaneous petitions, pending if any, in this Criminal Petition shall stand closed.
___________________________________ JUSTICE R.RAGHUNANDAN RAO Date : 23-03-2021 RJS 1 (2014) 8 SCC 273 3 65 THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE R.RAGHUNANDAN RAO CRIMINAL PETITION No.1798 OF 2021 Date : 23-03-2021 RJS