India, Sept. 28 -- The Bombay High Court has quashed criminal proceedings against the trustees of Nusserwanjee Maneckjee Petit Charitable Institution over allegations of forgery, cheating, criminal breach of trust in connection with the sale of its Tardeo property. The court held that the auction process was conducted in a "fair and transparent manner".

A single-judge bench of Justice Milind Jadhav last week set aside an August 2017 order of the magistrate court, which had issued process against five trustees and the trust's chief operating officer for offences punishable under Sections 409 (criminal breach of trust), 420 (cheating), 467 And 468 (forgery), read with 34 (common intention) of Indian Penal Code (IPC).

The dispute concerned...