The court affirmed that allegations of cheating and criminal breach of trust were sufficiently substantiated, denying the quashment of proceedings under Section 482 Cr.P.C.

ORDER

This petition having been heard and reserved for orders, coming on for pronouncement this day, Justice Sanjeev S. Kalgaonkar pronounced the following:

This petition u/S 482 of the Cr.P.C is filed for quashment of criminal proceedings pending before the learned XXVI Additional Sessions Judge, Indore in S.T. no. 462/2022 u/S 420, 406, 506 and 409 of IPC arising out of FIR at Crime No. 475/2021 registered at P.S. Pardeshipura.

2. The exposition of facts giving rise to the present petition are as under:

Mahesh alias Golu S/o Babulal Deora submitted a written complaint to the Higher Police Official, inter-alia alleging criminal misappropriation, threatening and cheating against - Akshay Kumayun. The complaint was inquired into. It was revealed that Akshay Kumayun had taken 05 vehicles on rent from 'Sardar Travel Agency Taxi 09' of Mahesh alias Golu. Akshay mortgaged vehicle no. MP09 CZ 2965 to Jitendra Singh Pawar and sold Vehicle No. MP 07 CF 6790. Akshay had given Vehicle No. MH 04 NH 1467 for Rs. 80,000/- to Harsh Sharma. Akshay had taken the said vehicle back, but did not repay the amount. Akshay had taken loan of Rs. 2 lakhs by mortgaging Vehicle No. MP 07 CF 6790 with Govind Pandya, but did not return the amount. Akshay had taken in all Rs. 19, 50,000/- from Harsh and his friends promising them vehicles for renting out through agency, but Akshay did not provide them vehicles nor repay the amounts. On the basis of inquiry, FIR at Crime No. 475/2021 was registered at P.S. Pardeshipura for offence punishable u/S 420, 406, 409 and 506 of IPC against Akshay Kumayun. During investigation, the statements of witnesses were recorded. The rent agreement about rental of the alleged vehicle, executed between Taxi 09 – Proprietor, Mahesh alias Golu and the accused Akshay was seized. Relevant money transactions were traced through Bank accounts.

Akshay was arrested. On completion of investigation, final report was submitted. The trial is underway before the learned 26th Additional Sessions Judge, Indore at S.T. No. 462/2022.

3. The FIR and consequential criminal proceedings are assailed in the present petition on the following grounds:

(i) The vehicles allegedly given to the petitioner/accused on rent have already been seized by the police. Therefore, the ingredients of criminal misappropriation or criminal breach of trust as defined u/S 405 of IPC are not made out against the applicant.

(ii) The complaint itself reflects that the complainant desires to get his money back from the petitioner. Therefore, the remedy lies in instituting a civil suit for recovery of amount/damages.

(iii) No original documents proving the ownership of the vehicles were seized during investigation. Further, no verification was conducted from the RTO records about ownership of the vehicles.

(iv) The vehicle No. MP 09 CY 6382 stands in the name of Subhash S/o Keshar Singh. Similarly, vehicle No. MP 09 CZ 2965 belongs to Awadesh S/o Rajkumar Parmar. Vehicle No. MP 07 CZ 6790 is registered in the name of Pankaj S/o Babulal. The vehicle No. MP 09 CZ 2963 met with an accident on 18.02.2021. Accordingly, the report of non-cognizable offence u/S 155 of Cr.P.C. was registered. The present FIR was registered after the said incident. The vehicle had already met with an accident, it could be mortgaged to Jitendra. Therefore, the investigation is improper. No offence as alleged is made out.

(v) The criminal trial would be a formality. The valuable time of Court and the accused would be wasted.

4. On these grounds, it is requested that the criminal proceedings at S.T. No. 462/2022 be quashed.

5. Learned counsel for petitioner referring to the NCR dated 19.02.2021 contended that the TATA TIAGO vehicle alleged to be mortgaged by the petitioner/accused - Akshay met with an accident on 18.02.2021. The complainant was aggrieved due to damage caused to the vehicle hired by the accused - Akshay on rent. The vehicles were already recovered and seized by the police. The allegation with regar