Thumu Venkateswar Rao v. S . Pitchaiah

HIGH COURT FOR THE STATE OF TELA.NGANA AT HYDERABAD TUESDAY ,THE FIFTEENTH DAY OF MARCH TWO THOUSAND AND TWENTY TWO PRESENT THE HONOURABLE SRI JUSTICE K,LAKSHMAN CRIMINAL PETITION NO: 2370 OF 2022 Between:

Thumu Venkateswar Rao, S/o. Anantha Ramaiah, Age. 51 years, Occ. Agriculture, R/o. Lothuvagu Village Laxmidevipally Mandal, Bhadradri Kothagudem District, Telangana State.

...PETITIONER/ACCUSED AND

1. S . Pitchaiah, 45 years, Forest Beat Officer, Lothuvagu beat, age 45 years, Laxmidevipally Mandal, Bhadradri Kothagudem District, Telangana State. .., RESPON DENT/DEFACTO-COI\/PLAINANT

2. The State of Telangana, Rep. by its Public Prosecutor, High court, At Hyderabad, .,,RESPON DENT/COM PLAINANT Petition under Section 482 of Cr.P.C praying that in the circumstances stated in the Memorandum of Grounds of Criminal Petition, the High Court may be pleased to quash the proceedings against the Petitioner in P.O.R No.20/OR/21-2022|KGM of Kothagudem Forest Range, Kothagudem Division, Kothagudem District, (Old Khammam District), Telangana State . l.A. NO: I OF 2022 Petition under Section 482 of Cr.P .C praying that in the circumstances stated in the Memorandum of Grounds of Criminal Petition,the High Court may be pleased to stay all further proceedings including arrest of the Petitioner in P.O.R No.20l0R121- 2022lKGttl of Kothagudem Forest Range, Kothagudem Division, Kothagudem District, (Old.

Khammam District), Telangana State, Pending disposal of the quash petition before this Honorable court . This Petition coming on for hearing,upon perusing the N4emorandum of Grounds of Criminal Petition and upon hearing the arguments of Sri Dr CHALLA SRINIVASA REDDY ,Advocate for the Petitioner and the Public Prosecutor on behalf of the Respondent No.

I THE HONOURABLE SRI JUSTICE K. LAKSHMAN CRIMINAL PETITI ON No. 2370 ot 2022 ORDER:

This Criminal Petition is fiied under Section 482 Cr.P.C., to quash the proceedings in p.O.R.No.20 lORl2l22|KGM of Kothagudem Forest Range police Statior-r, Kothagudem district, registered for the offences under Sections 20 ( 1 )(c)(ii)(v) (vii) of T. S. Forest Act and Section 3 of PDPP Act. The petitioner herein is sole accused in the said Crime.

2.

Heard learned counsel for the petitioner and learned Public Prosecutor. Perused the Record. With their consent this Criminal Petition is disposed of, at the admission stage.

3.

Perusal of the record would reveal that the petitioner herein is claiming that he has purchased the subject property under a registered sale deed bearing document dated 07-O5-2010 from one Malothu Harilal and thereafter

l he sold the said property to one M' Mohan Rao under unregistered sale deed dated 04-11-2016. 4.

According to learned counsel, petitioner has constructed house long back and he has been paying property tax to the Gram Panchayat, Laxmidevipally, Kothagudem District and in prool of the same he has filed tax receipts. The allegation against the petitioner herein is that he has trespassed into the Forest land leveled soil and constructed a house il1ega1ty in an area of 0.04 Hectors' Thus, there are several factual aspects to be investigated into by the Investigating Officer during the course of investigation. The punishment prescribed for the offences alleged against the petitioners is below 7 years' 5.

In view of the said discussion, this Criminal Petition is disposed of, directing the Investigating Officer in P.O.R.No.2Ol ORl21-22 IKGM of Kothagudem Forest Range Police Station, Kothagudem district, to strictly follow the procedure prescribed in Section 41-A of Cr.P.C. and also

the guidelines issued by the Honble Apex Court in Arnesh Kumar v. State of Biharl. The petitioner shall cooperate with the Investigating Officer by furnishing information and documents as sought by him in concluding the investigation.

Miscellaneous petitions, if any, pending in this criminal petition, shall stand closed.

Sd/-T;JAYASREE ASSISTANT REGISTRAR \ ,TRUE COPYi/ SECTION OFFICER To,

1. The P.O.R No.20l0R/21- 2O2ztKGl\/l of Kothagudem Forest Range, Police Station Kothagudem Division, Kothagudem District, (Old Khammam District), Telangana State.

2. Two CCs to Public Prosecutor, High Court for the State of Telangana, at Hyderabad [OUT]

3. One CC to SRl. Dr CHALLA SRINIVASA REDDY Advocate [OPUC]

4. Two CD Copies

5. One Spare Copy - CDL {Nr '1zot,t; t scc 213

HIGH COURT DATED:1 5tO312022 ..:I l,r I8

ORDER

CRLP.No -2370 of 2022 DISPOSING OF THE CRiMINAL PETITION