Kolkata, Sept. 16 -- Criminal proceedings cannot be used to recover money arising from a civil, familial and property dispute, the Calcutta High Court has held while quashing a cheating and criminal breach of trust case over the sale proceeds of a flat.
Justice Uday Kumar held that the dispute was fundamentally "civil, familial, and monetary" and that continuing the criminal proceedings would amount to an abuse of the process of law.
The dispute began in 2008 when Rajesh Prasad, facing financial difficulties and unable to secure a housing loan, approached his niece Prity Gupta and her husband Sachin Jaiswal for assistance. The loan was obtained in their names and the flat registered in Gupta's name. Prasad lived there and paid EMIs for about 10 years, totalling around Rs 20.93 lakh.
In 2019, the flat was sold for Rs 38 lakh to fund Prasad's daughter's higher education and clear debts. After the buyer paid the outstanding Rs 6.44 lakh home loan, Rs 31.05 lakh was handed to the petitioners through a demand draft.
The petitioners later paid Rs 15 lakh to Prasad and his family through NEFT but retained Rs 14.77 lakh, citing building repair, electricity and association dues. Prasad then approached the Magistrate under Section 156(3) of the CrPC, leading to the criminal case and charge sheet.
The court held that cheating requires dishonest intention from the inception of the transaction. It found no such intention in the 2008 arrangement. It also held that criminal breach of trust requires entrustment followed by dishonest misappropriation or conversion.
The court noted that the Rs 15 lakh subsequently transferred through banking channels contradicted the allegation of dishonest intention from the outset. It found the remaining dispute to be an accounting issue concerning liabilities and sale proceeds. The charge sheet and all further criminal proceedings were quashed.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.