Criminal Proceedings Can't Be Quashed Merely Because Allegations Also Disclose A Civil Dispute Between Parties: Allahabad HC

“The mere fact that the allegations also make out existence of civil dispute would not be a ground to quash the criminal proceedings when the allegations clearly make out commission of cognizable offences by the applicant,” a bench of Justice Subhash Vidyarthi noted.

The court also added that the submission of the Counsel for an accused that the allegations levelled in the FIR are false, cannot be examined by this Court while deciding an application under Section 482 CrPC.

These observations were made by the Court while dismissing a section 482 CrPC plea filed by one Keshav Ugan Jha (applicant-accused) who had moved the HC to quash the impugned charge sheet, summoning order including the entire proceedings in the case against him under Sections 409, 420, 504, 506.

The FIR was lodged against the applicant accused on the allegations that the informant's company had received an order to supply TMT bars (iron bars) to a construction company and he had in turn placed an order for raw material with the company owned by the applicant.

It was further submitted that the informant had paid around 38 lacs (out of 40 lacs) to the accused-applicant, however, he did not supply the raw material and only refunded 20 lacs to the informant and the remaining 18 lacs were not paid, which led the informant to lodge the instant FIR on cheating allegations.

The applicant-accused contended that the allegations levelled in the FIR are false and that the dispute between the parties is regarding non-payment of money paid under a contract, which is purely a civil dispute. Given this, the accused submitted that the entire criminal proceedings be quashed.

At the outset, taking into account the allegations as mentioned in the FIR, the Court noted that the same clearly makes out a case of cognizable offences against the applicant.

Noting that in a recent ruling, the Apex Court has observed that a High Court cannot conduct a "mini-trial" while exercising powers under Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure [referred to Central Bureau of Investigation vs Aryan Singh 2023 LiveLaw (SC) 292], the Court also referred to Priti Saraf vs. State Of NCT Of Delhi wherein it was observed by the Top Court that existence of civil remedies by itself is not a ground to quash criminal proceedings.

Against this backdrop, the Court noted that as besides the civil dispute between the parties, the allegations in the FIR make out the commission of cognizable offences of criminal breach of trust and cheating by the applicant, which allegations have been established by the material collected during the investigation and, hence, the Court refused to quash proceedings and dismissed the plea.

Appearances

Counsel for Applicant: Ravindra Kumar Yadav, Ajeet Singh

Counsel for Opposite Party: GA Akhilesh Kumar Vyas, Suniti Sachan

Case title – Keshav Ugan Jha vs. State Of U.P. Thru. Prin. Secy. Home Lko. And Another 2024 LiveLaw (AB) 28 [APPLICATION U/S 482 No. - 11379 of 2023]

Case Citation: 2024 LiveLaw (AB) 28

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