VARGHESE Vs. VARGHESE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The challenge in the revision is with regard to the refusal of an attachment before judgment in respect of immovable property which had been sought for by the present petitioners, who are the plaintiffs in O. S. No. 66/99 of the Sub Court, Hosdurg.

(2.) The suit was filed alleging that the 1st plaintiff is a Trader at Anakuzhi; that the other plaintiffs are his children and that the 1st defendant, who was on inimical terms with the 1st plaintiff for the past so many years, at about 7.30 p.m. on 30.4.1999 lay in wait for the plaintiffs in a Jeep bearing No. KL 13 - A - 2079 and launched a joint attack on the plaintiffs when they reached the scene of occurrence. It was alleged that lethal weapons like crow bar were used in the attack; that the 1st defendant masked his face at the time; and that in the course of the attack a sum of Rs. 22,000/- which was in the bag carried by the 1st plaintiff was also snatched away. The plaintiff also revealed in the plaint that Crime No. 224/99 of Hosdurg Police Station had been initiated against the defendants for the offences under S.395 and 397 of the I. P. C. The suit was laid for recovery of a sum of Rs. 3,00,000/- towards damages for the tortious acts of the defendants which necessitated expensive treatment for the plaintiffs.

(3.) The Trial Court found that there is no prima facie case established against the respondents and that the maintainability of the suit itself is doubtful, in view of the possibility of granting appropriate compensation under S.357 of the Cr.P.C. by the Criminal Court even if the petitioners could prove in the civil suit the involvement of the respondents in the tortious acts alleged in the plaint.