The failure to fulfil the promise of post-dated cheques does not constitute an offence under S.420 of the Indian Penal Code. Investigation of offences committed outside India requires the previous sanction of the Central Government.

1. Petitioner seeks to quash the complaint copy of which is marked as Annexure Al, filed by the first respondent. The allegations made in the complaint are to the following effect. Petitioner was a businessman in Abu Dhabi. He approached the first respondent, the complainant, who was employed as Branch Manager of Al-Fatha Food Trading Company, Abo Dhabi and purchased Chicken meat on 20-9-1986, 26-9-1986 and 31-9-1986 on credit basis, after issuing cheques for 5,000 Dirhams, 4,500 Dirhams and 11,560 Dirhams. At the time of issuing the cheques the petitioner made the first respondent believe that there is sufficient cash balance in the bank and that the cheques can be encashed at any time. When the cheques were presented, the first respondent was told that there was no cash in the account of the petitioner. On enquiry the bank authorities informed that the petitioner had intimated them to stop all

payments from his account. The petitioner could not be found in Abu Dhabi. He bad left that country and came over to Kerala. The amount for which the first respondent was cheated was reimbursed by him to the company from out of his salary. The petitioner made the first respondent to believe that there was sufficient cash in his account in the bank and dishonestly induced the first respondent to deliver him the goods. But for the inducement, the first respondent would not have delivered the goods to the petitioner. The petitioner has thus committed the offence punishable under S.420 of the Indian Penal Code. A complaint was lodged before the Indian Embassy at Abu Dhabi and the same was forwarded to the Deputy Secretary, Home Department, Government of Kerala, Trivandrum for investigation. The police did not complete the investigation on the said complaint. Hence the complaint annexure A1 before court.

2. Petitioner wants the above complaint to be quashed on two grounds: (1) no sanction from the Central Government was obtained for the investigation of the alleged offence since the entire transaction took place out side the Indian territory. (2) The allegations made by the first respondent in the complaint do not make out an offence under the Indian Penal Code and hence the criminal court cannot proceed with the same. I will deal with these arguments in detail.

3. S.188 of the Code of Criminal Procedure deals with offences committed outside India. Proviso to that Section reads:

"Provided that, notwithstanding anything in any of the preceding sections of this Chapter, no such offence shall be inquired into or tried in India except with the previous sanction of the Central Government."

This proviso applies to all enquiries and trials falling within Chapter XIII of the Code. Chapter XIII deals with jurisdiction of criminal courts in inquiries and trials. S.156 falls within Chapter XII of the Code. It allows the police to investigate cognizable cases which a court having jurisdiction over the local area would have power to inquire into or try under the provisions of Chapter XIII. So the police officers' power to investigate cases are limited to those which the criminal court has power to inquire into or try under Chapter XIII. Offences committed outside India do not fall within the territorial limits of any court in India. That means such offences are not to be investigated by the police either. S.188 of the Code is an exception to this rule. For that exception to come into operation, the provisions contained in that section must be strictly complied with. The conn's power to inquire into or try an offence committed outside India as per that section depends on previous sanction of the Central Government. The consequences of that, is the police officers' power to investigate an offence committed outside India would also depend on the previous sanction of the Central Government. Under S.156(3) the Magistrate can order investigation of a case which the court can inquire into and try under Chapter XIII. If the Magistrate has no territorial