DHAIRYESH JAYANTILAL SONI Vs. SUPERINTENDENT OF POLICE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) BY this petition under section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (the Code), the petitioner has prayed to quash the First Information Report lodged with the C.B.I: SPE/Gandhinagar on 23rd May, 2005 being R.C.12(A)/2000 -GNR qua the present petitioner and to direct the respondents herein to delete the name of the petitioner as accused No.5 from the said First Information Report. The petitioner also seeks deletion of conditions No.1 to 5 imposed vide order dated 23rd January, 2001 passed by the learned Special Judge, Ahmedabad being Criminal Miscellaneous Application No.2467/2000.

(2.) THE facts giving rise to the present petition are that the petitioner was arraigned as accused No.5 in the First Information Report being R.C.12(A)/2000 -GNR lodged by the Superintendent of Police, Central Bureau of Investigation: SPE/ Gandhinagar on 23rd May, 2000 for the offences punishable under sections 120 -B, 420 of the Indian Penal Code and sections 13(2) read with section 13(1)(d) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988. Subsequent to the First Information Report, a number of persons including the petitioner came to be arrested, pursuant to which the petitioner moved an application being Criminal Miscellaneous Application No.2467/2000 before the Special Court, Ahmedabad and by an order dated 23rd January, 2001, the learned Special Judge granted regular bail to the petitioner.

(3.) IT is the case of the petitioner that since 2000 onwards, the complaint is pending, however, till date no charge sheet has been filed against the petitioner. According to the petitioner, in view of his expertise in the field, two foreign firms, one of Kuwait and another of Saudi Arabia, have signed agreements with the petitioner as their partner to establish a company for distillation and refining of Hydrocarbon products in the oil rich countries of Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. Contract agreements signed between the petitioner and the said two firms on 16th January, 2008 have been annexed to the application. It is the case of the petitioner that as he had never travelled abroad, he does not have a passport and till date, had no occasion to apply for a passport. However, in view of the aforesaid contract, the petitioner is now required to obtain a passport from the Regional Passport Authority at Vadodara. According to the petitioner, in view of the provisions contained in the Passport Act, 1988, more particularly section 5(2)(g) thereof, the petitioner will be refused passport and travel documents by the authority. The petitioner has therefore, moved the present application for quashing the proceedings against the petitioner on various grounds, more particularly on the ground that the alleged offence has taken place during the period between 1997 and 2000 and that the First Information Report came to be filed in the year 2000, however, till date i.e. in the year 2008, no charge sheet has been filed against him though the CBI has already filed charge sheet against the officers of oil companies as named in the First Information Report as accused No.1. Therefore, according to the petitioner, there is no prima facie case against the petitioner. It is in these circumstances that the petitioner has moved the present petition seeking quashment of the First Information Report and deletion of conditions No.1 to 5 imposed in the order passed by the learned Special Judge while granting him bail.