Point of Law: The veracity of complainant’s allegations of coercion and duress would also have to be tested in any other appropriate proceedings. Be that as it may, once complainant has claimed that settlement agreement is not valid in law.

JUDGMENT :

CHANDRA DHARI SINGH, J.

1. The instant Petition under Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (hereinafter “Cr.P.C”) has been filed by the petitioners seeking quashing of F.I.R bearing No. 12/2008 registered at Police Station Crime Branch for the offences punishable under Sections 384/420/467/468/471/477/506/120-B/34 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (hereinafter “IPC”).

FACTUAL MATRIX

2. Brief facts of the case are that the instant FIR bearing No. 12/2008 dated 22nd October, 2008 was registered at Police Station Crime Branch, Delhi against Mr. Davinder Sharma, Mrs. Seema Sharma, Mr. Sanjay Kriplani, Mr. Baljit Singh, Mr. Kuldeep Singh and Mr. Hari Om Yadav for the offence of extortion of more than Rs. 100 crores by way of putting the complainant and his wife in fear of death. It is contended in the instant FIR that the complainant, Mr. Harbhajan Singh Chopra and his wife Mrs. Surjit Kaur Chopra are the Directors of 'Hotel Fountain Head Motel Pvt. Ltd.' (a company incorporated under the Indian Companies Act, 1956). As per the FIR, the extortion by the accused persons began way back at the end of 2007 and in the beginning of the year 2008. The complainant is a British National who migrated to England in 1995 along with his family. It is contended that few years back, the complainant came back to India and invested his lifelong earned money into Hotel Fountain Head Motel Pvt. Ltd./Hotel Claremont and other properties in and around Delhi. It is further contended that one Mr. Davinder Sharma/alleged accused and his wife Mrs. Seema Sharma, whom they met in the month of September/October, 2007 through some of their common friends, started extending good gestures and develop a good rapport with them. The complainant was lured by misrepresentation and assurance to assist in expanding the operations of the hotel. It is contended that the aforesaid accused persons along with their criminal conspirators had forced, coerced under threat of life and physical harm upon the complainant and his wife, and by way of such threats on gun point, had forced them to sign various documents and cheques for the purpose of creating liability on the company in their favour. It is further contended that under the threat, the complainant has given certain cheques, demand drafts/post dated cheques, cash and also executed sale deed in favour of the accused persons. They had provided some details of the transactions in the FIR itself. It is contended that crores of amounts have been credited in the account of Baljeet Singh for no rhymes or reason except the false documentation. Apart from the transactions which were given in the FIR, there are several other transactions which are a matter of the record. The complainants are living under threat of the aforesaid accused persons. On the aforesaid FIR, the investigating agency has completed the investigation and filed the charge-sheet against the accused persons on 23rd April, 2013.

SUBMISSIONS

On behalf of the Petitioners:

3. Mr. Maninder Singh, learned senior counsel appearing on behalf of the petitioners submitted that on 21st December, 2009, respondent no. 2 through respondents no. 3 & 4 filed a Recovery Suit bearing no. CS (OS) No. 2471/2009 before the Hon’ble High Court of Delhi against the petitioner no. 1 on the ground that the loan agreement was a forged and fabricated document and was obtained under duress and coercion, therefore, is liable to be declared null and void.

4. Learned senior counsel for the petitioners submitted that vide order dated 1st June, 2010, the matter was referred to the Delhi High Court Mediation and Conciliation Centre on the request of respondent nos. 3 and 4 and petitioner no. 1 in the aforesaid suit i.e. CS (OS) No. 2471/2009.

5. It is submitted that respondent nos. 2 to 4 and petitioner no. 1 entered into a settlement agreement after extensive mediation session