JUDGMENT

Amit Bansal, J. The present suit has been filed seeking recovery of Rs.10,17,42,213/along with pendente lite and future interest and a decree of permanent injunction restraining the defendants from interfering with the properties purchased from the money misappropriated from the plaintiff.

2. In the plaint, it has been pleaded that:

2.1. The plaintiff is a partnership firm duly registered with the Registrar of Firms.

2.2. The plaintiff is engaged in the business of manufacturing and selling precious metal jewellery. The plaintiff has been in this business since 1996.

2.3. The defendant no.1 joined the plaintiff company in the year 2011 as an accountant. During his tenure, the defendant no.1 gained the trust of his employers. The defendant no.1 was solely and exclusively responsible for depositing the cheques that were entrusted to him by the plaintiff's partners and for the maintenance of the plaintiff's bank accounts.

2.4. The defendant no.2 is the wife of the defendant no.1.

2.5. On 6th July, 2013, one of the partners of the plaintiff, Amit Sankhwal, asked the defendant no.1 about the bank statement of the previous financial year, which the defendant no.1 failed to provide. On enquiring, it was found out that two cheques from Amit Sankhwal and Priti Sankhwal amounting to Rs.1,00,00,000/- and Rs.2,30,00,000/- respectively did not reach the bank account of the plaintiff firm at HDFC Bank, and instead were deposited by the defendant no.1 in a pseudo account bearing account no. 683011000856 in ING Vysya Bank in its Yamuna Vihar branch opened in the name of `J.H. Jewellers', of which he represented himself as the sole proprietor (hereinafter referred to as pseudo account'). On the same date itself, the plaintiff lodged an FIR against the defendant no.1.

2.6. The defendant no.3 is a company to which substantial amounts of the money, misappropriated from the plaintiff, have been transferred by the defendant no.1.

2.7. On further enquiries, it was revealed that all the cheques that were given to the defendant no.1 for depositing them in the account of the plaintiff at HDFC Bank, Khan Market, were instead deposited by him in the aforesaid pseudo account opened by him with the defendant no. 4 bank. It was also revealed that money was transferred from this pseudo account by the defendant no.1 to his personal account and to the accounts of the defendants no.2 and 3. Bank statements of the pseudo account and the accounts in which money had been transferred from the pseudo account have been filed along with the plaint.

2.8. An analysis of the bank statement of the pseudo account makes it clear that 41 cheques were deposited fraudulently in the said account by the defendant no.1. Out of these 41 cheques, some had been issued directly by the customers as payment of the jewellery bought by them from the plaintiff, and others had been issued by the partners of the plaintiff and plaintiff's sister concern, J.H. Jewellers Pvt. Ltd.

2.9. All the customers who had collectively issued 14 cheques, confirmed that as per their accounts the money paid had been credited into account of `J.H. Jewellers' with the defendant no.4 bank. Confirmation letters of the customers of the plaintiff, who have issued the aforesaid cheques, have also been filed along with the plaint. Further, the bank account statements of the partners of the plaintiff and the plaintiff show that the money have been debited from their accounts and credited to the pseudo account.

2.10. A meagre amount of Rs.44,17,759 was transferred back to the account of the plaintiff by the defendant no.1 when the defendant no