Criminal proceedings arising out of civil property disputes, registered documents and financial transfers should not be allowed to continue when foundational facts are absent or subsequent complaints intended to exert pressure.

ORDER :

B. PUGALENDHI, J.

1.These petitions are filed by the accused to quash the proceedings which is pending as against them on the file of the respective respondent police stations.

2.The criminal original petitions in CrlOP(MD)No.7012 of 2026 and CrlOP(MD)No.7450 of 2026 are filed by accused No.2 and accused Nos.9 to 12 respectively in Crime No.36 of 2025 on the file of the District Crime Branch, Thanjavur. The criminal original petition in CrlOP(MD)No.8129 of 2026 is filed by the accused in Crime No.87 of 2026 on the file of the Tamil University Police Station. The accused in Crime No.87 of 2026 are also shown as an accused in Crime No.36 of 2025 and the defacto complainant in both cases is one and the same. Therefore, with the consent of the parties, these applications are heard together and disposed by way of this common order.

3.The gist of the case in Crime No.36 of 2025 on the file of the District Crime Branch, Thanjavur is as under:

The defacto complainant one Magamatha is a septuagenarian and resident of Singapore holding an Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) card. Her husband is a businessman involved in the shipping industry at Singapore and passed away in the year 2015 leaving behind huge properties in India. There were certain litigations instituted by relatives and SARFAESI proceedings pending with regard to the properties and she was finding it difficult to manage the litigations and the properties. At that time, one Sumathi/ A7, an erstwhile employee of her husband approached her and advised her in resolving the issues. She introduced the defacto complainant to one Konguvel Chellapan / A8 working as a Public Relations Officer in a hotel in Chennai and he in turn introduced the defacto complainant to one Nagarajan/ A4, the law officer of that hotel and advocates, A6 and A1. The accused have projected as if the relatives of the de facto complainant were attempting to abduct her for the sake of properties and under the guise of defending the cases regarding the properties, the accused have obtained her signatures in blank papers, vakalatnamas and also advised her to execute power deeds to save her properties. With these power documents and blank documents, they have created various sale deeds among themselves without her knowledge and cheated her of properties to the tune of Rs.700 crores. They also broke open into the house and lockers of the defacto complainant and taken away documents, ornaments and jewels in her absence. The accused allegedly intimidated her and her children with dire consequences and therefore, she has lodged a complaint through the Consulate General of India in Singapore and thereafter lodged this complaint before the Superintendent of Police, Thanjavur in 2025. On the basis of the same, a case in Crime No.36 of 2025 was registered on 27.12.2025 for the offences under Sections 406, 409, 420, 465, 467, 468, 470, 471 IPC of the  read with Section 120B of the IPC.

4.The gist of the case in Crime No.87 of 2026 on the file of the Inspector of Police, Tamil University Police Station is as under:

The de facto complainant was present inside the Joint Registrar Office, Thanjavur on 16.03.2026 in connection with obtaining official details regarding her properties. At about 3.00pm, the accused, one Nagarajan and Senthilkumar along with unknown persons entered the office, pointed at her and watched at her in an intimidating manner creating fear and emotional distress to her. Thereafter, when the de facto complain