P. Ubaid, J.:— The petitioner herein is the original 5 accused in S.C No. 86 of 2007 of Court of Session, Manjeri. The offences involved in this case are under Sections 307, 339, 506(ii) and 294(b) read with Section 34 of IPC. The said prosecution was initiated on the complaint brought by one Saithalavikoya. The original accused Nos. 1 to 4 faced trial before the Court of Session, and obtained a judgment of acquittal under Section 232 Cr.P.C when all the material witnesses including the defacto complainant turned hostile to the prosecution in view of an amicable settlement made by the parties out of court. The case against the petitioner herein was split up and refiled when he remained consistently absent, and it was later transferred to the register of long pending cases as L.P No. 5 of 2008. The petitioner now seeks orders quashing the prosecution as against him on the ground that the very substratum of the prosecution case is totally lost by the acquittal of the others, and continuance of the prosecution against him will not serve any purpose. Annexure-II judgment in S.C No. 86 of 2007 shows that all the material witnesses examined by the prosecution in the said case turned hostile in view of an amicable settlement made by the parties out of court. In such a situation, it is quite definite that the prosecution cannot in any manner improve the case and the witnesses also cannot in any manner help the prosecution, if the case against the petitioner goes to trial. In short, such proceeding will be a sheer waste of time.
2. In the result, this petition is allowed. The prosecution against the petitioner in L.P No. 5 of 2008 of Court of Session, Manjeri will stand quashed under Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. Accordingly, the petitioner will stand released from prosecution, and the bail bond, if any, executed by him will stand discharged.
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