SHARAD KUMAR SANGHI Vs. SANGITA RANE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Calling in question the legal validity of the order dated 30.11.2006 passed by the learned Single Judge of the High Court of Madhya Pradesh at Jabalpur in M.Cr.C.No.1922 of 2002 whereby the learned Judge had declined to exercise the power under Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (Cr.P.C.) for quashing of the proceedings in Criminal Case No.895 of 2001 pending in the court of Judicial Magistrate First Class, Betul which has been registered under Section 420 of the Indian Penal Code against the appellant, the present appeal has been preferred by special leave.

(2.) Bereft of unnecessary details, the facts which are necessary to be stated are that the appellant who is the Managing Director M/s. Sanghi Brothers (Indore) Ltd., Indore which is a registered company duly incorporated and registered under the Companies Act, 1956 and is engaged in the business of automobile sale, finance and shipping etc. having branches at various places including the city of Bhopal. The respondent-complainant obtained a quotation from the Bhopal Branch for purchase of a TATA Diesel vehicle model SFC 709/38 LB in the month of April 1998 and the vehicle was delivered to the respondent on 01.05.1998 on payment of the price deposited at Bhopal vide Bank Draft issued from the State Bank of India, Sarni, Betul. The respondent faced difficulty with the vehicle and eventually he came to know in the month of August 2000 that there was a discrepancy in the engine number of the invoice issued to him. On further enquiry, he found that there is a letter issued by Tata Engineering and Locomotive Company (TELCO) on 7.11.2000 that in the course of transit from the company to Bhopal, the said vehicle had met with an accident as a result of which the engine was replaced by another engine. Coming to know of this, the respondent filed a complaint under Section 200 of the Cr.P.C. alleging that M/s Sanghi Brothers (Indore) Ltd., Indore being represented by the Managing Director, Sharad Kumar Sanghi, had suppressed the information and deliberately cheated the respondent.

(3.) The learned Magistrate, after following the procedure as contemplated under Section 202 of the Cr.P.C., took cognizance of the offence to which we shall advert to at a later stage.