Can investigating officer send the document to FSL? I am 75 years Retd ISRO scientist in Hyderabad. Seeking your advice/suggestion/consultation on a small clarification. I had bought 1 Acr land in 1997 and got it mutated in 2019. ROR is in my name. This February, the brother of the person who sold me filed a civil case based on a False Sale agreement he claims to have been made by me to sell him the said land. Since it is a False document, I lodged a private complaint thru magistrate and he directed the Police for FIR and investigation and given a deadline of 30th Aug. After the stipulated date I contacted my lawyer to know about the outcome. He said in a very light tone that 'what do you have to do with the case ? it is between magistrate and police and you don’t have anything to do with it.'
My doubts : 1. If I don’t have anything to do with it then why did the advocate advise me to go for it and charged 20K Rs for filing the case? ( No, it is not the question of money; but then what is the use of case ? ) 2. I thought that this FIR result will find the genuine-ness of the document. ( Being scientist I can recognise that my purported signature there is colour printed on the document. I wanted it to be confirmed by FSL.. Mentioned clearly in my prayer to Magistrate with a statement that I will bear the expenses of FSL services ) 3. I wanted to use this case finding for submitting in Civil case to make it null and void based on the forged document. But, as my lawyer told me ( I think it is wrong ) , this Private case will not issue me a certificate about the genuiness of document … IS IT CORRECT ???
More importantly, he said that even if it is proven that the document is false, you can't use this in your civil case to nullify the accusation thrust on me. How true are his statements? If I can't use findings in civil cases then why was I advised to go for the Private case route and spend 20k INR? BTW, it seems that official charges are under 500 Rs for a private case. Thanks.
Your advocate’s advise is wrong. When you filed an application under Section 156(3) of the code of criminal procedure (CrPC), the court admitted your application and directed the officer in charge of the police station to register an FIR.
The above direction of the court itself proves that the offence committed by the accused is a cognisable offence. According to section 156(1) of the CrPC the police officer has the power to investigate a cognisable offence without order of the Magistrate.
Therefore, once the order of lodging an FIR has been passed by the Magistrate the police officer shall initiate the investigation and submit a report under Section 173 of Crpc without seeking further order of the Magistrate. [State of Bihar vs Saldanna (1980) CrLJ 98 SC]
Now, it is not a private complaint case. You have the right to approach the Magistrate, to whom you filed your application under Section 156(3) crpc, to call a progress report from the investigating officer and issue any suitable order to ensure free and fair investigation. The Magistrate has the power to monitor the investigation. [Sakiri Vasu vs State of U.P. (2008) 2 SCC 409].
The investigating officer has the power to collect evidence in the course of investigation. When the investigating officer records your statement under Section 161 CrPC, you should state that your signature bearing on the agreement to sale is forged. Then the investigating officer shall send the alleged document to the FSL for forensic examination.
If the investigating officer refuses to do so, then you should prefer an application to the concerned Magistrate under Section 156(3) crpc to direct the investigating officer to send the copy of agreement to sale for FSL report. The Magistrate has power to pass such an order in exercise of his monitoring power as held by the Hon’ble Supreme Court in Sakiri Vasu vs State of U.P. (2008) 2 SCC 409.
The state shall send the document for forensic examination on its own expenses. you‘ll not bear expenses for forensic examination. If FSL proves that the signature is forged then you can use its finding in any other proceeding, either civil or criminal, in which the maker of that agreement is a party.
