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HIGH COURT OF RAJASTHAN (JAIPUR BENCH)
ANIL KUMAR UPMAN
JITENDRA JAIN S/O SHRI MANAKCHAND JAIN – Appellant
Versus
STATE OF RAJASTHAN – Respondent
CRLMP / 3599 / 2021
High Court of Rajasthan (Jaipur Bench) dismissed criminal miscellaneous petitions under Section 482 Cr.P.C. filed by petitioners Jitendra Jain, Sandeep Agarwal, and Ajeet Jain to quash FIR No.139/2021 registered at PS Malviya Nagar, Jaipur, for offences under Sections 43, 66, 72 & 72A of IT Act, 2000 and Sections 420 & 120B IPC. (!) (!) (!) (!) (!) (!) (!) (!) (!) (!) (!) (!) (!)
FIR lodged by complainant Arun Goyal of Octal IT Solution LLP alleging ex-employees petitioners stole client leads, source code, project details while in employment, used them to start competing company Inventcolabs Infotech Pvt. Ltd. in 2020, contacted clients offering lower cost services, specific instances with clients Raphael Reich (project from Feb 2019, USD 32K) and Vladimir Kolessov (lead Jan 2020), also Upwork profile since 2016 breaching employment agreement. (!) (!) (!) (!) (!)
Petitioners argued dispute purely civil (breach of contract post-resignation, independent business), no criminal ingredients, IT Act as special law overrides IPC per Section 81, offences under IT Act bailable/compoundable unlike IPC 420/120B added malafide. (!) (!) [5][8][9]
Respondents countered FIR discloses cognizable offence under IPC 420 (cheating with inducement/deception causing delivery of property/loss), IT Act Sections 43/66 cover unauthorized access but not deception/inducement under IPC 415/420, both regimes applicable. [10]
Court reproduced relevant provisions: IT Act Section 43 (unauthorized access, copying data, stealing source code etc.), 65 (tampering source documents), 66 (dishonest/fraudulent acts under 43), 72 (breach confidentiality), 72A (disclosure breaching contract), 81 (overriding effect); IPC 415 (cheating by deception), 420 (cheating inducing property delivery). (!) (!) (!) (!) (!) (!) (!) (!) (!) (!) (!) (!) (!)
IT Act comprehensively covers cyber offences/data protection but does not bar IPC if FIR shows cheating via deceit/fraud causing wrongful loss/gain; overriding effect of Section 81 inapplicable where distinct elements like deception/inducement present. [13][14][15]
FIR allegations prima facie disclose cheating: petitioners stole source code/client data during employment, contacted clients deceptively diverting business to new firm (directors family members), causing complainant loss; elements of fraud/dishonesty plus deception distinguish from pure IT Act offences. [14][15][16]
Investigation revealed petitioners employed till 2020-2021, new company incorporated Apr 2020 with family directors (no IT background), simultaneous employment/diversion of leads, no records of direct contracts with complainant's clients. [17]
IPC 420 covers inducement/deception leading to property delivery (including data), additional to IT Act's dishonest access; offences not identical despite overlap, both prosecutable. [15][16] (!) (!) (!) (!) (!) (!)
Civil/criminal proceedings can proceed simultaneously even if overlapping allegations; criminal not quashable merely if civil dispute element exists, especially where cheating ingredients prima facie made out. [19][20] (!) (!)
Petitions dismissed, stay on proceedings vacated; observations prima facie, no prejudice to investigation/trial. [21][22][25] (!)
[2025:RJ-JP:51972]
HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE FOR RAJASTHAN BENCH AT JAIPUR S.B. Criminal Miscellaneous (Petition) No. 4269/2021 Ajeet Jain S/o Mahaveer Jain, R/o Malviya Nagar, Jaipur City (East) Rajasthan.
----Accused-Petitioner Versus
1. State Of Rajasthan, Through Public Prosecutor.
2. Arun Goyal S/o Ghanshyam Prasad Goyal, R/o A 94, Malviya Nagar, Jaipur City (East) Rajasthan.
----Complainant-Respondents Connected With S.B. Criminal Miscellaneous (Petition) No. 3599/2021
1. Jitendra Jain S/o Shri Manakchand Jain, R/o XYZ Malviya Nagar, Jaipur City (East), Presently R/o 112, 80 Feet Road, Avadhpuri-I, Mahesh Nagar, Jaipur (Raj.).
2. Sandeep Agarwal S/o Shri Satyanarayan, Aged About 34 Years, R/o XYZ Malviya Nagar, Jaipur City (East), Presently R/o 72/141, Patel Marg, Mansarovar, Jaipur (Rajasthan).
----Accused-Petitioners Versus
1. State Of Rajasthan, Through Public Prosecutor.
----Respondent
2. Arun Goyal S/o Shri Ghanshyam Prasad Goyal, Aged About 41 Years, R/o A-94, Malviya Nagar, Jaipur City (East), Rajasthan.
----Complainant/Respondent For Petitioner(s) : Mr. Ashish Kumar, Adv., and Mr. Suresh Kumar Sahni, Adv., with Mr. Ram Mohan Sharma, Adv.
For Respondent No.1 : Mr. N.S. Dhakar, PP with Mr. M.S. Shekhawat, PP For Respondent No.2 : Mr. Ashvin Grag, Adv.
Investigating Officer : Mr. Veerendra Singh Dhakad, SHO, PS Malviya Nagar, Jaipur City (East)
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE ANIL KUMAR UPMAN
Order
1. Date of conclusion of arguments : 27.11.2025 2. Date on which the judgment was reserved : 27.11.2025
3. Whether the full judgment or only the operative part is pronounced : Full Judgment
4. Date of pronouncement : 08.01.2026 ****
1. These criminal misc. petitions under Section 482 Cr.P.C. have been filed on behalf of the petitioners herein for quashing FIR No.139/2021 registered at Police Station Malviya Nagar, District Jaipur City (East), for offences punishable under Sections 43, 66, 72 & 72A of the Information Technology Act, 2000 (hereinafter referred to as the ‘IT Act’, 2000) and Sections 420 &
120B of the IPC and all subsequent proceedings arising out of it.
2. Brief facts of the case are that the complainant-respondent No.2 lodged a report at Police Station Malviya Nagar, District Jaipur City (East) which is being reproduced as under-:
“We are running an IT company by the name Octal IT Solution LLP in Jaipur since 2007 specializing in software development. Recently, I found two of our ex-employees Mr. Jitendra Jain and Mr. Sandeep Agarwal breached the contract signed with us. They have stolen our client leads and source code while working with us. They have been using the stolen information for their personal gain by defrauding us from past few years and have also registered a company providing services similar to us by the name Inventcolabs Infotech Pvt. Ltd. in the year 2020. Mr. Jitendra Jain and Mr. Sandeep Agarwal have been contacting our clients and offering them services with lower cost. Being on a senior position in Octal they were having access to the all the records including client contact numbers, nature of client, project Information, project source code information which they stole and misused. Due to this fraud, we are facing a huge loss as it highly effects to company business and its reputation. I have also come to know that our current employee Mr. Ajit Jain is also involved in this conspiracy. I would also like to highlight few incidents here our client Mr. Raphael Reich (raphael activegain.fit), started a project on 27th Feb. 2019 worth around USD 32K with us. We started working on this project and suddenly the client stopped responding to our e-mails and did not ask for the source code of the completed task as well, which was unusual. After which, recently we came to know that the source code and other project execution related documents of the client have been stolen by Mr.
Jitendra Jain and Mr. Sandeep Agarwal and they have started working with this client directly from their new firm for the same projects and other new pro
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