Thomas, J. - (1.) Leave granted.
(2.) A godman is now in the dock. One who was initiated by him as his devotee has later turned to be his bete noire, and the godman is facing a prosecution for the offence of cheating under Section 420 of the Indian Penal Code. When he moved the High Court to quash the criminal proceedings pending against him, the motion was dismissed as per the impugned order against which the present appeal has been filed by special leave.
(3.) Facts, thus far developed, are stated below: An FIR happened to be registered on the complaint lodged by one Venkatakrishna Reddy with the Town Police Station, Nellore, containing the following allegations. Appellant (Sri Bhagwan Samardha Sreepada Vallabha Venkata Vishanandha Maharaj) who is a young man, son of a teacher of Gummaluru village (A.P.) claimed to possess occult faculties and attracted a number of devotees. He represented to have divine healing powers through his touches, particularly of chronic diseases. Complainant approached him for healing his 15 year old daughter who is congenitally a dumb child. Appellant assured the complainant that the little girl would be cured of her impairment through his divine powers. He demanded a sum of Rs. 1 lac as consideration to be paid in instalments. The first instalment demanded was Rs. 10,000/- which, after some bargaining, was fixed at Rs. 5,000/-. Complainant paid that amount and later he paid a further amount of Rs. 1,000/- towards incidental expenses. He waited eagerly for improvement of his dumb child till 1994 which was the time-limit indicated by the appellant for the girl to start speaking. As the child remained the same, complainant began to entertain doubts. Appellant postponed the time- limit till August, 1994 for the girl to develop speech capacity. A little more amount of Rs. 516/- was collected for performance of a yagyan. But unfortunately nothing of such thing brought about any change in the girl. In the meanwhile, news of some other persons defrauded by the appellant reached the ears of the complainant as newspapers started publishing such other activities indulged in by the appellant. In one such publication it was mentioned that the appellant had mobilised more than a crore of rupees from different devotees. It was then that the complainant realised the fraud committed by the appellant, according to the complainant. Hence a complaint was lodged with the police for cheating.;