Revisional jurisdiction limited to perversity; cheating requires dishonest intent from outset, not mere promise breach; criminal intimidation needs intent to alarm or compel action.

JUDGMENT :

Rakesh Kainthla, J.

Present revision is directed against the order dated 7th November 2024 passed by learned Judicial Magistrate First Class-4, Shimla (learned Trial Court) vide which a cancellation report submitted by the police in FIR No. 78/17 dated 24th May 2017 was accepted and objections preferred by the petitioner (informant) were rejected. (Parties shall hereinafter be referred to in the same manner as they were arrayed before the learned Trial Court for convenience.)

2. Briefly stated, the facts giving rise to the present petition are that the informant made a complaint to the police that his cousins, Ashwani Kumar and Vinod Kumar, induced him to pay Rs.15 lakhs on the pretext that they would send him abroad. The complainant paid Rs.1,04,000/- in the year 2006 on the pretext that the amount of Rs.1,00,000 would be the processing fee and Rs.4,000/- would be required for renewal of the passport. Rs.5,00,000 was paid to them through Ashwani Kumar by way of a demand draft dated 21st March 2008. The informant also paid Rs.5.00 lakhs in cash on 30th August 2009 in the presence of his relatives. The accused assured that the informant’s visa would be issued, but they stopped picking up the informant’s calls. The accused also failed to return the informant’s passport taken by them. They threatened to kill the informant if he sought the return of money or the filing of the complaint against the accused.

3. The police registered the FIR and investigated the matter. The police found after the investigation that the informant and the accused are co-owners of the land located at Theog bearing Khasra numbers 153, 154 and 155. The accused and informant’s elder brother, Ashwani Kumar, went to Punjab, and Atul Kumar remained in possession of Khasra number 155. He was running a shop in the name and style of Krishna Sweet Shop. A three-story house was constructed on Khasra number 155. Vikas, the younger brother of Atul, resides with his mother on the ground floor, whereas Rampal, the informant’s brother, resides on the two upper floors. Atul Kumar, brother of Ashwani Kumar, was running a shop in the name and style of Krishna Sweet Shop in the building till 2005, and Rampal started running a shop in the same building after 2006. Rampal used to remit Rs.10,000 per month to Krishna Devi, mother of the accused and Rs.5,000/- to Shivani Devi, wife of Ashok Kumar, after the death of Krishna Devi, with effect from 2006, till 2016. He had paid Rs.6,04,000 by means of a demand draft to the accused. A civil suit was also filed between the parties, but was withdrawn. A false FIR was registered against the accused due to a land dispute. Hence, a cancellation report was filed before the Court.

4. The informant filed objections to the cancellation report, asserting that the report was based upon surmises and conjectures. The basic principles of criminal law were brushed aside by the investigating officer. The allegations made by the informant were sufficient to conclude that the accused had induced the informant to pay them money with dishonest intention. The police also s