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2005 DIGILAW 751 (AP)

T. Brahmanandam v. State Of A. P.

2005-08-12

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( 1 ) BOTH these criminal petitions are filed by the petitioners to quash Crime No. 21 of 2005 on the file of markapur Rural Police Station registered against them for the offence under section 306 IPC. ( 2 ) IT is the case of the petitioners that one B. Ananta Satyanarayana Rao, who was working as Assistant Secretary of markapur Gram Panchayat, committed suicide on 28-3-2005 and a letter was found in the pocket of the deceased which contains the allegation that the petitioner in Crl. P. No. 2306 of 2005 (Accused No. l) had been harassing him by getting petitions filed against him and as such, he lost his mental peace and in furtherance of that he committed suicide. ( 3 ) THE petitioner in Crl. P. No. 2306 of 2005 is a practicing advocate at Markapur appearing in a number of civil and criminal cases. He issued several legal notices to the deceased for his alleged illegal acts and at the instance of a retired teacher, who was alleged to have been cheated by the deceased, the petitioner filed a private complaint in C. C. No. 130 of 2004 on the file of the Judicial First Class Magistrate s court, Markapur, against the deceased for the offence under Section 420 I. P. C. and the same is pending. On behalf of one smt. Ch. Satyavathi and others, the petitioner also filed E. P. No. 57 of 2001 on the file of the Senior Civil Judge, Markapur, against the deceased for arrest for realisation of money decree. ( 4 ) THE petitioner in Crl. P. No. 2394 of 2005 (Accused No. 2) is alleged to have been supporter of the accused No. l in the above said crime. In the affidavit, filed in support of the petition, the petitioner states that private complaint was lodged by the brother-in-law of the deceased against him and it does not contain any allegations against him. ( 5 ) IN view of the above accusations, the petitioners moved this Court by way of present criminal petitions to quash the crime registered against them contending that by any stretch of imagination, it cannot be presumed that the petitioners have committed any wilful act or omission or intentionally aided or instigated the deceased in committing the act of suicide and registering the crime is as an abuse of process of law. ( 6 ) LEARNED Counsel for the petitioners contends that a reading of the suicide note discloses that no specific act was alleged against the petitioners which resulted in the deceased committing suicide except an omnibus allegation that Accused No. l appeared for various parties and harassed the deceased in collusion with Accused No. 2. ( 7 ) HOWEVER, the fact remains that the deceased was suspended from the post of the of] the Assistant Secretary of Markapur Gram panchayat for his alleged involvement in misappropriation of various funds of the gram Panchayat in which a notice was issued by the Revenue Divisional Officer and a retired teacher on whose behalf the petitioner filed the private complaint also made a representation to the Chief Minister marking copies to various authorities for taking necessary action against the deceased for his illegal action wherein, inter alia, it is alleged that the deceased swallowed a cheque amount of Rs. 50,000/- payable to one Anasuyamma. These sets of events clearly indicate that the deceased was upset over the action initiated against him. In the suicide note except stating that Accused no. 1 filed cases and harassed him no other specific incidence or wilful act was pointed out due to which he committed suicide, further, in the suicide note, the deceased stated that unable to bear the harassment meted out by the petitioners and unable to leave the village, he is committing the suicide. ( 8 ) RECENTLY, the Apex Court in Netai dutta v. State of West Bengal, 2005 AIR scw 1326 = 2005 AILD 203 (SC), had an occasion to consider the suicide note to implicate the persons mentioned in the suicide note as accused, wherein it held that in absence of any wilful act or incidence or omission or intentionally aided or instigated the deceased in committing the act of suicide and in the absence of any contents in the suicide note to make out offence against the accused which ultimately instigated or resulted in the committal of suicide by the accused, registration of a crime only on the basis of the suicide note without any factual foundation and the prosecution initiated against the accused are liable to be quashed. The case on hand is similar to the said case where the Apex Court considered and quashed the proceedings in the allegations made in the suicide note. The case on hand is similar to the said case where the Apex Court considered and quashed the proceedings in the allegations made in the suicide note. In the instant case also, since the suicide note of the deceased do not indicate the petitioners committing any wilful act or omission, intentionally aided or instigated the deceased in committing the act of suicide they cannot be charged for the offence under Section 306 I. P. C. Except omnibus allegation against the Accused No. 2 that he helped the Accused No. 1 in harassing, no other allegations are made against them. In view of the same, these two criminal petitions are liable to be allowed. ( 9 ) ACCORDINGLY, the criminal petitions are allowed and Crime No. 21 of 2005 on the file of the Markapur Rural Police Station is quashed.