Filing a criminal complaint after losing in civil litigation can indicate abuse of process, especially when material facts are suppressed.

ORDER :

J.C. Doshi, J.

1. By way of this petition under Section 482 of the Criminal Procedure Code, the petitioners have prayed for following reliefs :-

“(A) That this Hon'ble Court be pleased to quash criminal complaint of opponent no.2 filed before 6th Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate First Class being Criminal Complaint (criminal inquiry) no. 9/2015 and further also be pleased to quash and set aside the criminal complaint registered before the Mehsana Taluka Police Station being M. Case no.1/2015.

B) Pending admission hearing and final disposal of this application this Hon'ble Court be pleased to stay further proceedings of the aforesaid criminal complaint of opponent no.2 filed before 6th Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate First Class Mehsana being Criminal Complaint (criminal inquiry) no. 9/2015 and further also be pleased to stay the further proceedings of criminal complaint registered before the Mehsana Taluka Police Station being M. Case no.1/2015.

(C) That this Hon'ble Court be pleased to award the cost of this petition.

(D) That this Hon'ble Court be pleased to pass such other and further order as the nature and circumstances of the case may demand.”

2. The facts in a nutshell are as under :-

2.1 As per the FIR dated 26.12.2013 registered at Mehsana Taluka Police Station being M.Case No. 1 of 2015, the agricultural land situated within the limits of village Nugar, District and Sub-District Mahesana, bearing Revenue Survey/Block No.174 paiki, admeasuring He. Are. Sq. Mt. 0-68-80 belongs to complainant and his cousin (son of uncle) Sureshbhai Kantilal Patel, by way of inheritance and is under their joint ownership, possession and occupancy.

2.2 The said land, is approximately three bighas in total, of which one and a half bighas belongs to the complainant and one and a half bighas belongs to the mother of Sureshbhai Kantilal.

2.3. By cultivating the said land, the complainant as well as their family members have been maintaining their livelihood.

2.4 The complainant and his cousin Sureshbhai Kantilal decided to sell the said land to the accused No.1. The sale consideration was fixed at the rate of Rs.5,02,100/- per bigha and the sale price was determined at Rs.14,20,940/-. It was promised to execute an agreement to sell to the effect that upon payment of the remaining consideration amount within 17 (seventeen) months, the sale-deed would be executed. The complainant requested the accused No.1 to have prepared the agreement to sell in respect of the said sale transaction and accordingly, the agreement to sell was prepared by the accused No.1, wherein his signature and signature of Sureshbhai Kantilal were obtained by the accused No.1.

2.5 As per the terms, it was agreed with signatures that the accused No.1 would pay the remaining sale consideration within seventeen months and get the sale-deed executed.

2.6 The complainant and his cousin Sureshbhai repeatedly asked the accused to pay the consideration and execute the sale deed within the stipulated period of the agreement to sell. However, the accused No.1 did not pay any consideration nor showed readiness to execute any sale- deed even after expiry of the period decided in the agreement to sell, but kept giving false assurances.

Sometime later, the complainant came to know from discussions that, the accused No.1 had, on the basis of a Power of Attorney, executed a sale deed in favour of his brother Rameshbhai Shambhubhai Patel, the accused No.2. 2.7 Upon learning this, as they had never executed any Power of Attorney, the complainant checked the relevant records and found that the accused No.1 had caused registration of a