M. SRIKANTHversusSTATE OF TELANGANA AND ANR.

                         [2019] 13 S.C.R. 961                             961


                           M. SRIKANTH                                    A
                                  v.
               STATE OF TELANGANA AND ANR.
                 (Criminal Appeal No. 1586 of 2019)
                        OCTOBER 21, 2019                                  B

             [NAVIN SINHA AND B. R. GAVAI, JJ.]
       Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 –s.482 –Exercise of
jurisdiction under – Respondent no.2-complainant filed complaint
against nine persons including accused no.1, her brother – As per         C
the complainant, her father was the owner of the property in question
and after his death, the property was inherited by her, her three
sisters and accused no.1 – She averred that her father had entered
into a development agreement with a Construction Company that
assigned the rights in favour of a Company represented by accused
no.3, who after the death of her father tried to trespass into the        D
property – Complaint registered – Various other complaints, suits
filed by the complainant and her sisters against accused persons –
Complaint also alleged that accused no.1 fabricated documents,
Will – Direction for registration of FIR – Criminal petition of accused
no.4 (who, allegedly, was permitted by accused no.1 to sub-lease          E
the land in favour of accused no.5) u/s.482, dismissed – That of
accused nos.5-9, allowed – Present appeals by the complainant
and accused no.4 – Held: Complaint reveals disputed property claim
based on inheritance between the complainant, her sisters and
accused no.1 – There is no whisper in the complaint that the accused      F
no.4 was fully aware that accused no.1 was not the sole beneficiary
by inheritance and that the property had devolved upon the
complainant and her sisters – Nothing to show that knowing this he
collusively entered into the lease agreement with accused no.1, by
creating fabricated Will – No suggestion with regard to manner of
conspiracy, as alleged – Complaint itself reveals that the father of      G
the complainant and accused no.3 had himself entered into
development agreement which was cancelled during his lifetime –
Issues raised reflect a civil dispute with regard to inheritance
amongst the legal heirs – Dispute with regard to the inheritance
                                                                          H
                                 961
962            SUPREME COURT REPORTS                      [2019] 13 S.C.R.


A     can not be decided in criminal proceeding – Same can be done
      only in an appropriate civil proceeding – Civil proceedings with
      that regard are already instituted by various parties including the
      complainant– Further, Single Judge rightly found that there was no
      material to proceed against accused nos.5-9– Original accused
B     no.4’s case is covered by categories (1) & (3) carved out by Supreme
      Court in the Bhajan Lal case – Also, even if the allegations are taken
      on face value, there is no material to proceed against him – Criminal
      proceedings against accused no.4, quashed – Penal Code, 1860-
      ss.120-B, 380, 420, 448.

C           Disposing of the appeals, the Court
             HELD: 1.1 The complaint reveals a disputed property claim
      based on inheritance between the complainant, her sisters and
      her brother, accused No.1. The complainant also disputes with
      regard to the area of the property including the manner of its
D     devolution upon the parents of the complainant and her competing
      interest with that of her siblings. There is not even a whisper in
      the complaint that the present appellant, i.e., accused No. 4 was
      fully aware that accused No.1 was not the sole beneficiary by
      inheritance and that the property had devolved upon the
      complainant and her sisters. Also there is nothing to show that
E     knowing this he has collusively entered into the lease agreement
      with accused No.1, by creating a false and fabricated will. Though,
      there is a mention with regard to conspiracy, but there is not
      even a suggestion with regard to manner of such conspiracy. The
      father of the complainant and accused No.3 had himself entered
F     into a development agreement which subsequently came to be
      cancelled during his lifetime. It would also reveal, that only after
      the lease in question was executed in favour of the appellant, the
      complainant has raised all these issues. The issues raised reflect
      a civil dispute with regard to inheritance amongst the legal heirs.
      It is not understood as to how a dispute with regard to the
G
      inheritance under a will and deed of confirmation can be decided
      in a criminal proceeding. The same can be done only in an
      appropriate civil proceeding. Not only that, the civil proceedings
      with that regard are already instituted by various parties including
      the complainant. Though in the complaint, the complainant had
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     M. SRIKANTH v. STATE OF TELANGANA AND ANR.                       963


mentioned about pendency of O.S. No. 1989 of 1996 against             A
accused No.3 and O.S. No. 1403 of 1999 against M/s Banjara
Construction Pvt. Ltd., there is no reference with regard to the
other proceedings. Accused No.4 has been impleaded as a party-
defendant in O.S. No. 506 of 2001 only on 30.10.2009.
[Paras 19-21][971-E-H; 972-A-B, E-F]                                  B
       1.2 O.S. No. 239 of 2004 has already been filed by the
complainant against her brother, accused No.1 and her three
sisters inter alia for partition and separate possession which is
stated to be pending. As such, the documents alleged to be
fraudulent in the complaint will fall for consideration in the said   C
suit. A possibility of contradictory finding in civil proceeding as
against criminal proceedings cannot be ruled out. Though, the
complainant had filed Writ Petition Nos. 23017/2009 and
23672/2009 to restrain construction on the plot in question, the
same was dismissed on 28.10.2009. However, there is no mention
with regard to the same in the complaint. The complainant and         D
her sisters executed an agreement of sale-cum-irrevocable
specific power of attorney on 20.03.2015. Various litigations have
also been filed with regard to the installation of the petrol pump
and grant of N.O.C. etc. The complaint was sent to the police for
registration of an FIR and investigation under Section 156(3) of      E
the Cr.P.C. on 24.11.2010. In its final report dated 30.08.2017,
the police has opined that no material had surfaced to show any
conspiracy during investigation. The Learned Judge himself in
Paragraph 8, has observed that it is nobodies case that the
signatures on the documents in question are forged or anybody
                                                                      F
has impersonated for the purpose of cheating. The Learned
Judge, having found that the entire allegations with regard to
forgery and fabrication and accused No.1 executing the lease deed
on the basis of the said forged and fabricated documents were
only against accused No. 1, ought to have exercised his
jurisdiction to quash the proceedings qua accused No. 4 also.         G
The Learned Judge, HC, ought to have applied the same
parameters to the present accused No. 4, which had been applied
to the other accused whose applications were allowed, the Single
Judge rightly found that there was no material to proceed against
accused No. 5 – HPCL and its officers accused Nos. 6 and 9 as         H
964            SUPREME COURT REPORTS                      [2019] 13 S.C.R.


A     also accused Nos. 7 and 8, who have been roped in, only because
      they were the attesting witnesses. The Single Judge rightly
      exercised his jurisdiction under Section 482 of the Cr.P.C. The
      case of accused No. 4 is covered by categories (1) and (3) carved
      out by this Court in the case of Bhajan Lal. Even if the allegations
B     in the complaint are taken on its face value, there is no material
      to proceed further against accused No. 4. Continuation of criminal
      proceedings against accused No. 4, would amount to nothing else
      but an abuse of process of law. As such, his appeal deserves to
      be allowed. The criminal appeal filed by accused No. 4 is allowed.
      The criminal proceedings in Crime No. 311/2010 of P.S., Central
C     Crime Station, Hyderabad, against accused No. 4 are quashed
      and set aside. The criminal appeals filed by the original
      complainant are dismissed.[Paras 22-28][972-F-H; 973-E-G; 974-
      C-H; 975-A]
            State of Haryana and Ors. v. Bhajan Lal and Ors.
D           (1992) Supp 1 SCC 335 : [1990] 3 Suppl. SCR 259 –
            relied on.
            Sardool Singh v. Nasib Kaur (1987) Supp. SCC 146 –
            referred to.

E                            Case Law Reference
      [1990] 3 Suppl. SCR 259         relied on               Para 15
      (1987) Supp. SCC 146            referred to             Para 22
            CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION: Criminal Appeal No.
F     1586 of 2019.
            From the Judgment and Order dated 01.06.2017 of the High Court
      of Judicature at Hyderabad for the State of Telangana and the State of
      Andhra Pradesh in Crl. P. No. 6609 of 2013.
                                      With
G
            Criminal Appeal Nos. 1587-1588 of 2019.
            K. M. Nataraj, ASG, D. Rama Krishna Reddy, Mrs. D. Bharathi
      Reddy, Shakil Ahmed Syed, Uzmi Jamil Husain, Sanjay Kapur, Ms. Megha
      Karnwal, Bharath Gangadharan, Kauser Husain, S. Udaya Kumar Sagar,
      Ms. Swati Bhardwaj, Advs. for the appearing parties.
H
     M. SRIKANTH v. STATE OF TELANGANA AND ANR.                                 965


         The Judgment of the Court was delivered by                             A
         B. R. GAVAI, J.
         1. Leave granted in both the Special Leave Petitions.
      2. Both these appeals arise out of the common Judgment and
Order passed by the single Judge of High Court of Judicature at                 B
Hyderabad for the State of Telangana and the State of Andhra Pradesh
dated 01.06.2017.
       3. The criminal appeal arising out of S.L.P. (Crl.) No. 9156 of
2017 filed by M. Srikanth, the original accused No. 4, challenges that
part of the order by which the single Judge of the High Court has rejected      C
his application under Section 482 of the Cr.P.C. for quashing the
proceedings in Crime No. 311/2010 of P.S., Central Crime Station,
Hyderabad. The criminal appeals arising out of S.L.P. (Crl.) Nos.
9160-9161 of 2017 at the instance of the original complainant challenge
that part of the order vide which the single Judge of the High Court has
                                                                                D
quashed the complaint qua accused Nos. 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9.
         4. The facts, in brief, giving rise to the present appeals are as
under:
       The parties are referred to herein as they are arrayed in the original
complaint. The Respondent No. 2, Fatima Hasna, in the criminal appeal           E
arising out of S.L.P. (Crl.) No. 9156 of 2017 (hereinafter referred to as
“the complainant”), is the sister of accused No. 1, Akramuddin Hasan.
The complainant had filed a private complaint against nine persons
including accused No. 1. The allegations in the said complaint in a nutshell
is that the house bearing No. 3-5-1102 at Narayanaguda, Hyderabad,              F
originally belonged to Afzaluddin Hassan, the father of the complainant,
who died on 28.05.1996. Afzaluddin Hassan, possessed the same upon
death of his mother, Khairunnisa Begum Saheba as per the oral gift
dated 12.12.1966 and deed of confirmation of the said oral gift. It was
the case of the complainant, that upon death of her father, Afzaluddin
Hassan, the said property was inherited by her as well as her three             G
sisters and accused No. 1, her brother. It is further averred in the
complaint, that her father had entered into a development agreement on
25.05.1989 with M/s Banjara Construction Company Pvt. Ltd. However,
the same was cancelled during his lifetime. It is further averred by her
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966            SUPREME COURT REPORTS                         [2019] 13 S.C.R.


A     that after the death of her father, accused No. 3, Abid Rassol Khan,
      tried to trespass into the property and for that on her complaint, Crime
      No. 159/1996 came to be registered for the offence punishable under
      Sections 448 and 380 of the IPC on 14.06.1996.
             5. It is further averred by her that, thereafter, she came to know
B     about the existence of a document thereby assigning the rights by M/s
      Banjara Construction Company Pvt. Ltd. in favour of M/s NRI Housing
      Company Pvt. Ltd., represented through accused No. 3, Abid Rasool
      Khan. For the said incident another complaint vide Crime No. 177/1996,
      came to be registered for the offence punishable under Sections 418
      and 420 read with Section 120-B of the IPC against seven persons
C
      including M/s Banjara Construction Company Pvt. Ltd. and accused
      No. 3 in the present case. With regard to the said cause of action, the
      complainant had also filed Original Suit No. 1989/1996 against accused
      No. 3 and others for permanent injunction. The complainant’s sisters
      had filed O.S. No. 1403/1999 against M/s Banjara Construction Company
D     Pvt. Ltd. of which accused No. 3, Abid Rasool Khan, was the Managing
      Director. According to the complainant, certain interim orders were also
      passed in the said original suits.
             6. It is further the case of the complainant in the complaint, that
      her brother accused No. 1, Akramuddin Hasan, who had falsely created
E     a will in Urdu purported to be executed by their paternal grandmother,
      Khairunnisa Begum Saheba, in favour of their parents Afzaluddin Hassan
      and Liaquathunnisa Begum for their lifetime and vested remainder to
      accused No. 1. It is the case of the complainant, that the said will is
      registered and said to have been executed on 02.04.1950. Further, it is
      the case, that accused No. 1 had also created another forged and
F     fabricated document styled as deed of confirmation (Hiba Bil Musha)
      dated 08.03.1990 vide which the property is orally gifted to accused No.
      1 on 29.08.1989 and also handed over physical possession thereof.
            7. It is further the case of the complainant, that accused No. 1,
      posing himself to be the owner of the premises, on the basis of the
G     alleged oral will and deed of confirmation, created a registered lease on
      01.12.2008, bearing document No. 3107/2008 permitting accused No. 4
      to sub-lease the said land in favour of accused No. 5, Hindustan
      Petroleum Corporation Ltd. (“HPCL”). Accused No. 6 and accused
      No. 9 are the employees/officers of accused No. 5 - HPCL whereas,
H
     M. SRIKANTH v. STATE OF TELANGANA AND ANR.                                 967
                     [B. R. GAVAI, J.]

accused Nos. 7 and 8 are the attesting witnesses. On the basis of the           A
said complaint, the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate directed the registration
of an FIR on 24.11.2010.
       8. It appears, that various criminal petitions came to be filed before
the High Court. Criminal Petition No. 6047/2013 was filed by accused
No. 7, Khaja Mohiuddin and accused No. 8, G. V. Prasad. Criminal                B
Petition No. 6064/2013 came to be filed by accused No. 3, Abid Rasool
Khan. Criminal Petition No. 6609/2013 came to be filed by accused No.
4, M. Srikanth, who is the appellant in the criminal appeal arising out of
SLP (Crl.) No. 9156/2017. Criminal Petition No. 8743/2013 was filed by
accused No. 5 - HPCL and its officers, accused No. 6, S.K. Srui and
accused No. 9, R. Umapathi. By the impugned Order, the High Court               C
allowed the Criminal Petitions of all the applicants except accused Nos.
3 and 4.
       9. Being aggrieved by the dismissal of his petition, accused No. 4,
so also the original complainant, being aggrieved by the impugned Order
by which the petitions of accused Nos. 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 have been allowed,      D
have approached this Court.
      10. We have heard Mr. D. Rama Krishna Reddy, learned counsel
appearing on behalf of the appellant, M. Srikanth, and Mr. Shakil Ahmed
Syed, learned counsel appearing on behalf of the complainant. We have
also heard Mr. K. M. Nataraj, learned Additional Solicitor General,             E
appearing on behalf of the original accused No. 5 - HPCL and its officers/
employees, accused Nos. 6 and 9.
        11. The learned counsel for the original accused No. 4 submitted,
that the only role attributed to the said accused in the complaint is that a
lease deed was executed in his favour by accused No. 1, showing himself         F
to be the absolute owner of the property in question; whereas, the property
was owned by the complainant and her three sisters along with accused
No. 1. It is further submitted, that the entire allegations of fabrication so
as to show that the property belongs to accused No. 1 are against accused
no. 1. It is submitted that accused No. 4, on the basis of the advertisement
issued by accused No. 5 – HPCL for installation of a petrol pump, had           G
applied and after being successful in the competition had obtained the
land in question on lease from accused No. 1. He submitted, that as per
the terms and conditions for grant of the said outlet, he was required to
get the land on long term lease and sub-lease the same to accused No.
5 – HPCL. It is submitted, that even taking the complaint at its face
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968               SUPREME COURT REPORTS                         [2019] 13 S.C.R.


A     value, there are no averments which would show that accused No. 4
      had any role to play in fabrication of the document which bestowed the
      title on accused No. 1. It is further submitted, that there are various civil
      proceedings pending amongst the complainant, accused No. 1 and their
      sisters so also the other parties. Accused No. 4 is not at all concerned
      with the same.
B
             12. It is further submitted, that as a matter of fact, the case of
      accused No. 4 could not have been distinguished from the case as against
      accused Nos. 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9. It is submitted, that applying the same
      logic, which the learned Judge of the High Court had applied while
      quashing the case against the said accused, the case against the present
C     accused No. 4 also ought to have been quashed. It is submitted that the
      continuation of criminal proceedings against accused No. 4, the appellant
      herein, would be nothing else but an abuse of the process of law.
             13. Per contra, Mr. Shakil Ahmed Syed, learned counsel appearing
      on behalf of the private complainant, submitted that the High Court has
D     rightly dismissed the petition of accused No. 4. It is submitted, that accused
      No. 4 in order to deprive the benefits of the property to the complainant
      had got the lease deed executed in his favour from accused No. 1 knowing
      very well that the claim of accused No. 1 was based on fabricated
      document(s). He further submitted, that the High Court had also erred
      in allowing the petitions of accused Nos. 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 and, therefore,
E     the order to the extent that it quashes the criminal proceedings qua them
      also needs to be set aside.
             14. Mr. K.M. Nataraj, learned Additional Solicitor General,
      submitted that accused Nos. 5, 6 and 9 have been unnecessarily dragged
      in the said criminal litigation. It is submitted that accused No. 5 - HPCL
F     is a public undertaking and accused Nos. 6 and 9 are its officers. It is
      submitted that the High Court has rightly arrived at a finding that there
      was no material against them and quashed the criminal proceedings qua
      them.
             15. This Court, in the case of State of Haryana and Ors. vs.
      Bhajan Lal and Ors.1 after considering all its earlier judgments, has
G     laid down principles which are required to be taken into consideration by
      the High Court while exercising its jurisdiction under Section 482 of the
      Cr.P.C. for quashing the proceedings. It will be relevant to refer to the
      following observations of this Court in Bhajan Lal (supra):

      1
H         1992 Supp (1) SCC 335
M. SRIKANTH v. STATE OF TELANGANA AND ANR.                             969
                [B. R. GAVAI, J.]

“102. In the backdrop of the interpretation of the various relevant    A
provisions of the Code under Chapter XIV and of the principles
of law enunciated by this Court in a series of decisions relating to
the exercise of the extraordinary power under Article 226 or the
inherent powers under Section 482 of the Code which we have
extracted and reproduced above, we give the following categories       B
of cases by way of illustration wherein such power could be
exercised either to prevent abuse of the process of any court or
otherwise to secure the ends of justice, though it may not be
possible to lay down any precise, clearly defined and sufficiently
channelised and inflexible guidelines or rigid formulae and to give
an exhaustive list of myriad kinds of cases wherein such power         C
should be exercised.
(1)   Where the allegations made in the first information report
      or the complaint, even if they are taken at their face value
      and accepted in their entirety do not prima facie constitute
      any offence or make out a case against the accused.              D

(2)   Where the allegations in the first information report and
      other materials, if any, accompanying the FIR do not disclose
      a cognizable offence, justifying an investigation by police
      officers under Section 156(1) of the Code except under an
      order of a Magistrate within the purview of Section 155(2)       E
      of the Code.
(3)   Where the uncontroverted allegations made in the FIR or
      complaint and the evidence collected in support of the same
      do not disclose the commission of any offence and make
      out a case against the accused.                                  F

(4)   Where, the allegations in the FIR do not constitute a
      cognizable offence but constitute only a non-cognizable
      offence, no investigation is permitted by a police officer
      without an order of a Magistrate as contemplated under
      Section 155(2) of the Code.                                      G

(5)   Where the allegations made in the FIR or complaint are so
      absurd and inherently improbable on the basis of which no
      prudent person can ever reach a just conclusion that there
      is sufficient ground for proceeding against the accused.
                                                                       H
970               SUPREME COURT REPORTS                        [2019] 13 S.C.R.


A           (6)     Where there is an express legal bar engrafted in any of the
                    provisions of the Code or the concerned Act (under which
                    a criminal proceeding is instituted) to the institution and
                    continuance of the proceedings and/or where there is a
                    specific provision in the Code or the concerned Act,
B                   providing efficacious redress for the grievance of the
                    aggrieved party.
            (7)     Where a criminal proceeding is manifestly attended with
                    mala fide and/or where the proceeding is maliciously
                    instituted with an ulterior motive for wreaking vengeance
                    on the accused and with a view to spite him due to private
C
                    and personal grudge.”
              16. It could thus be seen, that this Court has held, that where the
      allegations made in the FIR or the complaint, even if they are taken at
      their face value and accepted in their entirety do not prima facie constitute
      a case against the accused, the High Court would be justified in quashing
D
      the proceedings. Further, it has been held that where the uncontroverted
      allegations in the FIR and the evidence collected in support of the same
      do not disclose any offence and make out a case against the accused,
      the court would be justified in quashing the proceedings.
             17. Let us consider the case of the complainant on its face value
E     without going into the truthfulness or otherwise thereof. It is the case of
      the complainant, that the property originally belonged to her grandmother.
      After her death, it devolved upon her father, Afzaluddin Hassan and
      after his death on 28.05.1996, it devolved upon accused No. 1 and his
      three sisters, namely, Karima Siddiqua, Saleha Asmatunnisa and Sadika
F     Khairunnisa. Their father had entered into a development agreement
      with M/s Banjara Construction Company Pvt. Ltd., however, the same
      was cancelled during his lifetime. After the death of their father on
      28.05.1996, accused No. 3 tried to trespass into the property for which,
      on the basis of her complaint a crime was registered. That the said M/s
      Banjara Construction Company Pvt. Ltd. had executed some document
G     alleging assignment of its rights in favour of M/s NRI Housing Company
      Pvt. Ltd. of which accused No. 3, Abid Rasool Khan was the Managing
      Director. In respect of the same action, Crime No. 177/1996 had been
      registered at the instance of the complainant. With respect to the said
      transaction, two original suits were already filed, one by the complainant
H     and another by her sisters.
     M. SRIKANTH v. STATE OF TELANGANA AND ANR.                                 971
                     [B. R. GAVAI, J.]

        18. It is further the case of the complainant, that accused No.1        A
created a will in Urdu purported to be executed by her grandmother
bequeathing the property in favour of her parents, namely, Afzaluddin
Hassan and Liaquathunnisa Begum for their lifetime and vesting the
remainder to accused No. 1. The said will is created on a non-judicial
stamp paper of Nizamat Jung and has been allegedly executed on
                                                                                B
02.04.1950. According to the complainant, accused No. 1, her brother,
had created another forged and fabricated document styled as deed of
confirmation (Hiba Bil Musha) dated 08.03.1990 confirming the oral gift
to accused No. 1 and also recording handing over of physical possession.
It is her case, that on the basis of these fabricated documents, accused
No. 1, posing himself to be an absolute owner of the property, executed         C
a lease deed in favour of accused No. 4 (the appellant herein in one of
the appeals) on 01.12.2008. It is further the case of the complainant,
that thereafter accused No. 4 executed a sub-lease in favour of accused
No. 5 - HPCL represented by accused Nos. 6 and 9 within a period of
two months i.e. on 30.01.2009 and that accused Nos. 7 and 8 are the
                                                                                D
attesting witnesses. That is all the case of the complainant.
       19. The complaint filed by respondent No. 2 runs into 26 pages
and 26 paragraphs. As already discussed hereinabove, it reveals a disputed
property claim based on inheritance between the complainant, her sisters
and her brother, accused No. 1. A perusal of the complaint would further
reveal, that the complainant also disputes with regard to the area of the       E
property including the manner of its devolution upon the parents of the
complainant and her competing interest with that of her siblings. There
is not even a whisper in the complaint that the present appellant, i.e.,
accused No. 4 was fully aware that accused No. 1 was not the sole
beneficiary by inheritance and that the property had devolved upon the          F
complainant and her sisters. Also there is nothing to show that knowing
this he has collusively entered into the lease agreement with accused
No. 1, by creating a false and fabricated will. Though, there is a mention
with regard to conspiracy, but there is not even a suggestion with regard
to manner of such conspiracy.
                                                                                G
        20. Upon perusal of the complaint itself, it would reveal that the
father of the complainant and accused No. 3 had himself entered into a
development agreement which subsequently came to be cancelled during
his lifetime. It would also reveal, that only after the lease in question was
executed in favour of the appellant, the complainant has raised all these
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972               SUPREME COURT REPORTS                          [2019] 13 S.C.R.


A     issues. We are of the considered view, that the issues raised reflect a
      civil dispute with regard to inheritance amongst the legal heirs. We fail
      to understand as to how a dispute with regard to the inheritance under a
      will and deed of confirmation can be decided in a criminal proceeding.
      We find, that the same can be done only in an appropriate civil proceeding.
      Not only that, the civil proceedings with that regard are already instituted
B     by various parties including the complainant. These proceedings are as
      follows:
                (i)     O.S. No. 239 of 2004 on the file of the Hon’ble XI ACJ,
                        CCC, Hyderabad.

C               (ii)    O.S. No. 337 of 2002 on the file of the Hon’ble XI ACJ,
                        CCC, Hyderabad.
                (iii)   O.S. No. 58 of 2001 on the file of the Hon’ble XI ACJ,
                        CCC, Hyderabad.
                (iv)    O.S. No. 277 of 2000 on the file of the Hon’ble XI ACJ,
D                       CCC, Hyderabad.
                (v)     O.S. No. 506 of 2001 on the file of the Hon’ble XI ACJ,
                        CCC, Hyderabad.
                (vi)    Writ Petition (C) No. 685 of 2010.
            21. It will be relevant to refer that though in the complaint, the
E
      complainant had mentioned about pendency of O.S. No. 1989 of 1996
      against accused No. 3 and O.S. No. 1403 of 1999 against M/s Banjara
      Construction Pvt. Ltd., there is no reference with regard to the other
      proceedings. Accused No. 4 has been impleaded as a party-defendant
      in O.S. No. 506 of 2001 only on 30.10.2009.
F            22. O.S. No. 239 of 2004 has already been filed by the complainant
      against her brother, accused No. 1 and her three sisters inter alia for
      partition and separate possession which is stated to be pending. As such,
      the documents alleged to be fraudulent in the complaint will fall for
      consideration in the said suit. A possibility of contradictory finding in civil
G     proceeding as against criminal proceedings cannot be ruled out. Though,
      the complainant had filed Writ Petition Nos. 23017/2009 and 23672/2009
      to restrain construction on the plot in question, the same was dismissed
      on 28.10.2009. However, there is no mention with regard to the same in
      the complaint. This Court in Sardool Singh vs. Nasib Kaur2 observed
      as follows:
H     2
          (1987) Supp. SCC 146
     M. SRIKANTH v. STATE OF TELANGANA AND ANR.                                  973
                     [B. R. GAVAI, J.]

       “2. A civil suit between the parties is pending wherein the               A
       contention of the respondent is that no will was executed whereas
       the contention of the appellants is that a will has been executed
       by the testator. A case for grant of probate is also pending in the
       court of learned District Judge, Rampur. The civil court is therefore
       seized of the question as regards the validity of the will. The matter
       is sub judice in the aforesaid two cases in civil courts. At this         B
       juncture the respondent cannot therefore be permitted to institute
       a criminal prosecution on the allegation that the will is a forged
       one. That question will have to be decided by the civil court after
       recording the evidence and hearing the parties in accordance with
       law. It would not be proper to permit the respondent to prosecute         C
       the appellants on this allegation when the validity of the will is
       being tested before a civil court. We, therefore, allow the appeal,
       set aside the order of the High Court, and quash the criminal
       proceedings pending in the Court of the Judicial Magistrate, First
       Class, Chandigarh in the case entitled Smt Nasib Kaur v. Sardool
       Singh. This will not come in the way of instituting appropriate           D
       proceedings in future in case the civil court comes to the conclusion
       that the will is a forged one. We of course refrain from expressing
       any opinion as regards genuineness or otherwise of the Will in
       question as there is no occasion to do so and the question is wide
       open before the lower courts.”
                                                                                 E
        23. It is further to be noted, that the complainant and her sisters
executed an agreement of sale-cum-irrevocable specific power of
attorney on 20.03.2015 in favour of one Mohd. Khalid Shareef. Various
litigations have also been filed with regard to the installation of the petrol
pump and grant of N.O.C. etc. The complaint was sent to the police for
registration of an FIR and investigation under Section 156(3) of the Cr.P.C.     F
on 24.11.2010. In its final report dated 30.08.2017, the police has opined
that no material had surfaced to show any conspiracy during investigation.
        24. The learned Judge himself in Paragraph 8, after observing
that it is nobodies case that the signatures on the documents in question
are forged or anybody has impersonated for the purpose of cheating,              G
goes on to observe thus:
       “8…..The allegation in nutshell in this regard is that accused No.
       1 is not the absolute owner of the properties, but for one of the
       co-owner or co-sharer along with the de facto complainant and
       other sisters of them and he falsely claimed as if he is the owner        H
974             SUPREME COURT REPORTS                          [2019] 13 S.C.R.


A           for purpose of cheating by using as if genuine forged and fabricated
            documents of so called will and so called deed of confirmation.
            The so called will is of the year 1950 and the so called deed of
            confirmation is of year 1989-1990 and the alleged oral gift prior to
            that is of 1966….”
B            25. We fail to understand, as to how after observing the aforesaid,
      the learned Judge could have refused to quash the proceedings against
      accused No. 4. Not only that, but on the basis of the said observations,
      the learned Judge himself has observed that it will not be in the interest
      of justice to permit the Police authorities to arrest the accused for the
      purposes of investigation. We are of the considered view, that the learned
C     Judge, having found that the entire allegations with regard to forgery
      and fabrication and accused No. 1 executing the lease deed on the basis
      of the said forged and fabricated documents were only against accused
      No. 1, ought to have exercised his jurisdiction to quash the proceedings
      qua accused No. 4 also. We find that the learned Judge ought to have
D     applied the same parameters to the present accused No. 4, which had
      been applied to the other accused whose applications were allowed.
             26. Insofar as the criminal appeals arising out of the special leave
      petitions filed by the original complainant is concerned, we absolutely
      find no merit in the appeals. The learned single Judge has rightly found
E     that there was no material to proceed against accused No. 5 – HPCL
      and its officers accused Nos. 6 and 9 as also accused Nos. 7 and 8, who
      have been roped in, only because they were the attesting witnesses.
      The learned single Judge has rightly exercised his jurisdiction under Section
      482 of the Cr.P.C.

F             27. Insofar as original accused No. 4 is concerned, we have no
      hesitation to hold, that his case is covered by categories (1) and (3)
      carved out by this Court in the case of Bhajan Lal (supra). As already
      discussed hereinabove, even if the allegations in the complaint are taken
      on its face value, there is no material to proceed further against accused
      No. 4. We are of the considered view, that continuation of criminal
G     proceedings against accused No. 4, M. Srikanth, would amount to nothing
      else but an abuse of process of law. As such, his appeal deserves to be
      allowed.
            28. In the result, the criminal appeal arising out of S.L.P. (Crl.)
      No. 9156/2017 filed by accused No. 4 is allowed. The criminal proceedings
H
     M. SRIKANTH v. STATE OF TELANGANA AND ANR.                               975
                     [B. R. GAVAI, J.]

in Crime No. 311/2010 of P.S., Central Crime Station, Hyderabad, against      A
accused No. 4 are quashed and set aside. The criminal appeals arising
out of S.L.P. (Crl.) Nos. 9160-61/2017 filed by the original complainant
are dismissed.


Divya Pandey                                           Appeals disposed of.
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