High Court of Telangana quashed criminal proceedings under Section 318 BNS and Section 7 EC Act against accused No. 4 for procuring PDS rice. Bench applied Section 528 BNSS relying on precedent finding no averment of criminal intent on face of prosecution.
Criminal proceedings in C.C. No. 799 of 2024 against the petitioner/Accused No. 4 are quashed.
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[3303 ]
IN THE HIGH COURT FOR THE STATE OF TELANGANA AT HYDERABAD
FRIDAY, THE FIFTH DAY OF DECEMBER TWO THOUSAND AND TWENTY FIVE
PRESENT
THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE J. SREENIVAS RAO
CRIMINAL PETITION NO: 16040 OF 2025
Between:
Kaspa prashanth, S/o. Kaspa Ravinder, Age 43 years, Occ. Business. Rt/o. H. No.10-2, Domakonda Village and Mandal, Kamareddy District, Telangana State.
..Petitioner/Accused No.4
AND
...Respondents
Petition under Sectjon 528 of BNSS praying that in the circumstances stated in the Memorandum of Grounds of Criminal Petition, the High Court may be pleased to quash the proceedings in CC No.Z99 of 2024 on the file of the Hon'ble Judicial l\4agistrate of First Class at Kamareddy in so far as petitioner/Accused.
l.A. NO:2OF 2025
Petition under Section 528 of BNSS praying that in the circumstances stated in the Memorandum of Grounds of Criminal petition, the High Court may be pleased to grant stay of all further proceedings against the petitionei /Accused No.4 in CC No.799 of 2A24 on the file of the Hon'bte Judicial Magistrate of First Class at Kamareddy pending drsposal of the main criminal petition.
This Petition coming on for hearing, upon perusing the lvlemorandum of Grounds of Criminal Petition and upon hearing the arguments of Mr. AIluri Divakar Reddy, Advocate for the Petitioner and the tr/r. Jithender Rao Veeramalla, Additional Public Prosecutor on behalf of the Respondent No.1 and None Appeared for the Respondent No.2.
The Court made the following: ORDER
HIGH COURT FOR THE STATE OF TELANGANA A,T HYDERABAD
THE HONOURABLE SRI JUSTICE J. SREEV-MAS RAO
CRIMINAL PETITION No. 16O4O of ll(t25
DATE: 05.12.2O25
Betrveen:
Kaspa PrashzurLh
Petr ioner/accused No.4
AND
Thc Statc of iclangana, Rep. b1' the PublLc Prosccutor, I{igh Court a- Hr clcrabad for the Statc ol'lclangana ancl another
Respondcn ts
This C:irninal Pctition has been frled uncler Seot.ion I>28 Bh:uatiya Nngarik Suraksha Sar-rhita, 2023 (for shorr , 'Bn-SS) by the petitioner/ acc Lr scd No.4 seeking to quash tl-c ploceedings ir-r C.C.No.799 c'f 2021 on rhe lile of the Judicial Magi;trate of First Class at Kamaredd]', tbr the offences under Section 318(a) of the BNS ar-rd Section 7 of I'lssential Commodities Act, 1955 (for sh.lr't, 'trS Act').
2
from the benefrciaries ata cheaper rate in order to sell it for prohtand that he rvas foundin possession of 7.53 Quintalsof PDS Rice'
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6 . A Coordinate Bench of this Court in Cr1.P !1c.72'27 of 2025 has considered the identical facts and observed that
"There is r.ro avermcnl indicating that the pettt:c Lr,:r in any w-ay d:cepti,,,clf ir-rducccl lhe bencficiaries to partu i h thc supplied PDS rice o; the bcr.rchciary cntrusted the PDS rir c pur:hasccl by lhern u ith the petitioner and rhey dishonestly rni: i'rrprcpriatcd or converled io thcir orvn use or used it in violirik;r'r o: a lawftLl ciir-ectior.r cr colltrac:. In the absence of essenlir lactors, on the face of prosecution this Courl hnds it to be a a1[ :irse t(] exercise the jucisdlction under Section 528 of BNSS, ,1023. Thus, continr.liuce of proceedings against the petitior e:- is abuse oI process; ol la rv".
7 . 'lhe lacts und cii-cumstances of the present ca;e also similar to tircsc in thc abovc casc nnd hencc, this Court find i rt. to be a fit case to exercise.iurisdiction under Section 528 of BNSS by applying thc same ilnalo$, and to quash the proceedings aga nst thc petitioner herein.
MiscelLaneous applications, pending if any. s rall stand closed
SDI, I(.BHAVANI SWAMY {stirsTANTREGtSTRAR F //TRUE COPY// I
rsEcTloNoFFtcER
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HIGH COURT
DATED:0511212025
ORDER
CRLP.No.16040 of 2025
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ALLOWING THE CRIMINAL PETITION
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1 issue framed by the court
Whether proceedings in a cheating case violating Essential Commodities Act can be quashed under Section 528 BNS when no criminal intent is averred.
Colour shows how this judgement treated each authority
3 provisions across 3 enactments
Kaspa Prashanth
State of Telangana
J. Sreenivas Rao
As recorded by the court registry
Judgements on the same questions, provisions and authorities, from every court
