THE HONOURABLE SMT JUSTICE JUVVADI SRIDEVI CRIMINAL PETITION No.6615 OF 2023

O R D E R

This Criminal Petition is filed by the petitioners-

accused Nos.3, 6 & 7 seeking to quash the proceedings against them in C.C.No.4557 of 2020 pending on the file of the learned XII Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate at Hyderabad, registered for the offences under Sections 420, 406 read with Section 34 of the Indian Penal Code (for short ‘IPC’).

02. Heard Sri Sharad Sanghi, learned counsel for the petitioners-accused and Smt.S.Madhavi, learned Assistant Public Prosecutor for the State-respondent No.1. No representation on behalf of the unofficial respondent No.2. Perused the record.

03(a). Brief facts of the case are that M/s.Gharonda Builders and Developers represented by the accused No.2, along with other partners, had taken up a new venture named Gharonda Bhoopal in the premises bearing No. 6-1-280 & 6-1-280/E and part D at Padmaraonagar, Secunderabad entered into unregistered preliminary General Power of Attorney-cum- Development agreement with Bhoopal Family, he also obtained the necessary permissions from Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation, Water works Dept etc., and started receiving booking orders for flats.

03(b). Subsequently, the accused No.2 constructed residential complexes for Bhoopal family members and invested Rs.1.75 Crores towards part consideration for purchase of plots and brought in his family friend a Canadian Citizen Mr.Aditya Chandra Jha to pay the balance consideration of Rs.6.0 Crores towards purchase of plot and was instrumental in facilitating the plot to be registered in the name of Mr.Aditya Chandra Jha in December, 2014 vide sale deed No.1891 of 2014 dated 08.12.2014. The accused No.2 has entered into an agreement with Mr. Aditya Chandra Jha to repay Rs.6 crores soon and take back the procession of the plot for construction of Gharonda Bhoopal Complex as per the original planning. The accused No.2 assured the complainant's association to start the construction soon and deliver the flats at the earliest.

03(c). Subsequently, the complainant and others came to know that the land was sold and registered to a group of people in the recent past i.e. on 30.04.2019 by secrete understanding between all the concerned parties, totally ignoring the complainant's association members. The complainant also informed that some of the sufferers have already approached the CCS Police in the year, 2015 and submitted their written complaints. The complainant requested to recover their money from Ghoranda Builders and Developers.

04(a). Learned counsel for the petitioners submitted that the petitioners have no involvement whatsoever in the alleged offences and that there is no element of dishonest, or fraudulent intention on the part of the petitioners-accused Nos.3, 6 & 7 to cheat the complainant. It is contended that the police have filed the charge sheet without conducting proper investigation and that there is no incriminating material available on record against the petitioners-accused Nos.3, 6 & 7. The allegations levelled against the petitioners are purely civil in nature, and the complainant is attempting to give a criminal colour to a civil dispute. It is further submitted that the offences under Sections 406 and 420 of IPC are mutually exclusive in nature and cannot co-exist simultaneously. The learned counsel also filed the copy of orders passed by this Court in Criminal Petition Nos.3573, 3576, and 3577 of 2019, whereby the criminal proceedings initiated against the petitioners-accused Nos.3, 6 & 7 were quashed vide Orders dated

18.10.2023.

04(b). With the above submissions, learned counsel while praying for the quashment of criminal proceedings relied upon a decision of the Hon’ble Supreme Court in Sunil Bharti Mittal v. Central Bureau of Investigation wherein it was held at Paragraph No.42 that:

“42. No doubt, a corporate entity is an artificial person which acts through its officers, directors, managing director,