Dismissing a HP Cricket Association (HPCA) petition for quashing of a criminal case registered under the Prevention of Corruption Act, the Himachal Pradesh High Court observed that ‘no case for interference is made out at this stage and the petition merits to be dismissed.
Before disposing of the petition, Acting Chief Justice Mansoor Ahmed Mir recorded that the petitioners which included HPCA and its president Anurag Thakur had pleaded that it was a case of vengeance, political vendetta and malafide.
However the Judge observed, “The argument advanced by the learned counsel for the petitioners is devoid of any force for the reason that the FIR was lodged and investigation has been conducted. In terms of the status report filed, investigation has been concluded and the material collected do disclose that 18 persons are prima facie involved in the commission of offences who have been arrayed as accused. Justice Mir also quoted a Supreme Court ruling which decrees that allegations of mala fide based on facts after lodging of the FIR were of no consequence and could not be the basis for quashing of proceedings.
“It is a well settled position of law that when there are prima facie materials available, a petition for quashing of criminal proceedings cannot be entertained. The investigating agency should have the freedom to go into the whole gamut of the allegations and to reach a conclusion of its own. Pre-emption of such investigation would be
justified only in very extreme cases,” the 56-page detailed order records.
In response to the petitioners argument that Anurag Thakur, one of the petitioners and others, allegedly involved in the commission of offence, are not public servants, so the provisions of Prevention of Corruption Act cannot be invoked, the court observed, “This argument is misconceived for the simple reason that 18 persons have been arrayed as accused and some of them are public servants.”
The judge noted that “It is alleged that all of them have hatched the conspiracy and caused wrongful gain to the petitioners and wrongful loss to the State. It is also alleged that they have misused their official position in order to shower benefits and to show favour to the other accused.
HPCA, its president Anurag Thakur and others had sought quashing of FIR registered at Dharamshala police station on August 1, 2013 under Sections 406, 420, 120-B of Indian Penal Code and Section 13 (2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 on the grounds that the matter involved was of a civil dispute outcome of civil liability.