Point of Law: Anticipatory Bail – Cheating and fraud - Allegations against the petitioner are grave and serious in nature – No clean past antecedents - Custodial interrogation required to recover cheated amount - Rejected

ORDER :

Rajnish Bhatnagar, J.

1. This is a petition filed by the petitioner under Section 438 Cr.P.C. seeking anticipatory bail in case FIR No. 255/2019 under Sections 420/406/120-B IPC registered at Police Station Prasad Nagar, Delhi.

2. In brief the facts of the case are that the complainant and his wife were interested in purchasing an immovable property in South Delhi in the name of the wife of the complainant i.e. Mrs. Anju Gupta. One Vishnu Bhagat introduced the complainant to the applicant/accused and the applicant/accused help the complainant to zero-in upon the property belonging to one Shubham Dubey. Assurance was given to the complainant that the property was free from all encumbrances and on that assurance given by the applicant/accused and said Shubham Dubey, a deal was struck for the purchase of the property for a sum of Rs.1.35 crores. In this regard, an agreement to sell was duly executed between said Shubham Dubey and the wife of the complainant, and 22.8.2019 was fixed as the date for execution of the Sale Deed in favour of the wife of the complainant i.e. Mrs. Anju Gupta at the office of Sub-Registrar, Mehrauli. The draft sale deed was also approved by the parties and the stamp papers worth Rs.5,40,000/- were duly purchased by Mrs. Anju Gupta but no sale deed could be executed on 22.8.2019 for certain reasons shown by Shubham Dubey. Thereafter, 3.9.2019 was fixed for execution of the sale deed and on the said date Shubham Dubey came to the office of Sub-Registrar along with one Vikramjeet Sheriya and requested the complainant to transfer the consideration amount in his bank before the execution of the sale deed. Therefore, a sum of approximately Rs.1.33 crores was transferred from the bank of Mrs. Anju Gupta to the bank account of Shubham Dubey, and thereafter, Shubham Dubey and Vikramjeet Sheriya vanished from the office of the Sub-Registrar without executing any sale deed. According to the complainant, the applicant/accused Amresh Mishra assured him that either he would get the property transferred in favour of Mrs. Anju Gupta or he would facilitate the return of the amount paid to the said Shubham Dubey. It is alleged against the applicant/accused that he is the main conspirator and he has played fraud upon the complainant and his wife with his accomplices namely Shubham Dubey and Vikramjeet Sheriya.

3. It is submitted by the counsel for the petitioner that he has been falsely implicated in the present case and petitioner has filed a complaint dated 23.9.2019 with P.S. Prasad Nagar vide DD No.41 dated 3.9.2019 disclosing the facts even before the registration of the present FIR but no action has been taken on his complaint. He further submits that actual fraud has been played upon the complainant by Shubham Dubey and Vikramjeet Sheriya. It is further submitted that wife of the complainant has instituted a suit being Civil Suit No. 319/2019 for specific performance and permanent injunction in the court of District and Sessions Judge, and in that suit the applicant has not been impleaded as a party, which clearly shows that the complainant has no grudge and case against the petitioner. It is further submitted that the custodial interrogation of the petitioner is not required. It is further submitted that petitioner has joined the investigation as and when directed by the IO.

4. On the other hand, it is submitted by learned APP that the allegations against the petitioner are grave and serious in nature. He submits that during the course of investigation NBWs were obtained against the petitioner. It is further submitted that after the scrutiny of the bank statement of account no. 307402010560609 of co-accused Shubham Dubey, it was revealed that cheated amount was immediately transferred into the account of accused Vikramjeet Sheriya and the same was further transferred to different bank accounts. He further submits that the accused Shubham transferred some amount to the account of the petitioner’s daughter’s firm,