Orissa High Court Denies To Discharge Persons Accused Of Making Violent Ruckus At Residence Of CM's Private Secretary

The Orissa High Court has denied to discharge a number of persons accused of forcefully entering and causing damage to properties at the official residence of Mr. V.K. Pandian, IAS & Private Secretary to the Chief Minister of Odisha Mr. Naveen Pattnaik. While upholding the order of the Trial Court, a Single Judge Bench of Justice Sangam Kumar Sahoo observed, "After going through the case records minutely particularly the statements of the witnesses, the seizures in the case, it cannot be said that there is absence of prima facie material against the petitioners. The learned trial Court has also found that there are materials available in the case record that on 10.02.2018 at about 10.00 a.m., the petitioners entered into the official residential quarters of Mr. V.K. Pandian raising hulla and assaulted the security guard, abused the informant in filthy language, damaged the flower pots so also glass pans of the quarters and the motorcycle and seizure of those damaged articles were made." Factual Background: An FIR was lodged on 10.02.2018 by one security guard in the quarters of Mr. V.K. Pandian, IAS. It was stated therein that on that day at about 10.00 AM, while he was in his duty at the residence of Mr. Pandian, some persons came with TV camera and gave their identities as the reporters of OTV and conveyed that they had come to take interview of Mr. Pandian. The informant told them that Mr. Pandian was not available in the quarters and asked them to come later. After some time, hearing hulla near the gate, the informant came out of the guard room and found thirty to forty persons kicked the main gate and barged in to the premises holding flags of a political party. The two persons who had earlier come and identified themselves as camera man and the reporter of OTV also entered the premises with them and when the informant protested, they abused him in obscene languages and started throwing the flower pots aiming at the glass pan of the quarters. They also damaged a motorcycle and some of them caught hold of the throat of the informant and dragged him into the guard room. They pressed his throat as a result of which the informant felt suffocated. Then the trespassers asked the informant about Mr. Pandian and also told him naming two politicians of a particular political party to have asked them to do such activities so that Mr. Pandian would be compelled to quit Odisha. The informant with much difficulty managed to escape from the clutches of the miscreants and came out of the guard room. The culprits caught hold of the informant and forced him to raise slogans in support of the two politicians by holding party flags. When hearing such hulla, people gathered at the spot, the culprits left the quarters giving threat, using obscene languages. After the lodgement of FIR, investigation was carried out. On completion of investigation, as prima facie case was found against the petitioners, charge sheet was submitted under sections 147/452/455/294/353/189/152/307/323/ 506/427/149/120-B/34 of the Indian Penal Code. The petitioners filed a discharge petition before the Trial Court, which held that it is difficult to believe that the charges against the accused persons are groundless, without scrutiny of evidence on record at that stage and accordingly, rejected the discharge petition. Hence, this review petition was filed. Contentions of the Petitioners: Mr. Arun Kumar Nayak, counsel for the petitioners, contended that a false case has been foisted on account of political rivalry and the ingredients of the offence under section 307 of the IPC are not attracted and no specific overt act has been alleged against any of the petitioners and the witnesses examined are mostly official witnesses and no independent witness has stated about the incident. He further submitted that another FIR was lodged at the instance of one Shri Markand Mishra, S.I. of Police, Capital police station and a completely different version of the incident has been mentioned therein. Thus, it was contended that the continuance of the criminal proceeding against the petitioners would be an abuse of process of Court and therefore, the Trial Court has erred in rejecting the petition filed by the petitioners for discharge. Contentions of the Respondent/State: Mr. Manoranjan Mishra, Additional Standing Counsel for the State, backed the impugned order and contended that when a number of witnesses examined during investigation have implicated the petitioners to be the miscreants in the occurrence, the manner in which the crime has been committed, the unauthorized entry of the petitioners into the residential quarters of the Private Secretary to the Chief Minister and the overt act committed by the petitioners clearly made out prima facie case against them. It was argued that at this stage, meticulous examination of the evidence on record is not ...

Orissa High Court Denies To Discharge Persons Accused Of Making Violent Ruckus At Residence Of CM's Private Secretary

Jyoti Prakash Dutta

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