JUDGMENT

S.B. Sinha, J.—

1. Leave granted.

2. Whether breach of contract of an agreement for sale would constitute an offence under Section 406 or Section 420 of the Indian Penal Code is the question involved herein.

3. It arises in the following factual background:

Appellant is the owner of some agricultural lands. He entered into an agreement for sale with the respondent No.2 agreeing to sell 13 acres of land at the rate of Rs.4,70,000/- per acre. Allegedly, respondent No.2 is said to be a property dealer. He paid a sum of Rs.7,00,000/- towards advance to the appellant. A sum of Rs.14,20,000/- was furthermore paid to the appellant within a period of seven months from the date of execution of the said sale agreement.

4. Inter alia, on the premise that the second respondent was unable to pay the balance amount of consideration, the appellant executed a deed of sale in favour of Balbir Singh and Mohinder Singh. Whereas the case of the appellant is that it was at the instance of the respondent No.2, the said deed of sale was executed, the latter contends that the appellant did so without calling upon him to pay the balance amount and as such he committed an offence under Section 406