MANCHERSHA ARDESHIR DEVIERWALA Vs. ISMAIL IBRAHIM PATEL

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS revisional application is preferred by the original complainant against the order of discharge of the four accused who were charged with offences under Sections 421, 423 and 109 of the Indian Penal Code. The discharge order having been confirmed by the Sessions Judge, the complainant has come to this Court in revision.

(2.) HIS case in substance was that he and accused Nos. 1 and 2 were partners in the business of making charcoal out of wood. These two accused had obtained the right of cutting trees and making charcoal from wood in some villages in the Bansda State. The charcoal was to be brought to Bulsar in British India for sale. The complainant was the financing partner and after accounts between the parties were made up, these accused had in 1931 pledged some ready made charcoal to the complainant for Rs. 16,000 and had agreed to deliver it to him at Bulsar. As the accused failed to do so, the complainant had filed suits against the accused. One suit was filed in Thana Court in which one Ranchhodji, accused No.3, who alleged that some of the charcoal was pledged to him, was appointed a receiver by consent of the parties; this Ranchhodji, being afraid that his pledge may not be substantiated, instigated accused Nos. 1 and 2 to pass a sale-deed for a nominal sum to his joint nephew, accused No.4, of their rights to cut trees under the agreement made with the Bansda State. It is alleged that this sale-deed of November 13, 1932, was passed with the intention of defrauding the petitioner who was a creditor of accused Nos. 1 and 2 for a large amount. Thereafter, the complainant applied for the adjudication of accused Nos. 1 and 2 as insolvents, and in the insolvency proceedings, accused No.4 preferred his claim under the above-mentioned sale-deed. Therefore, the complainant filed the present complaint alleging that all the four accused had committed the offences of fraudulent removal of property to prevent its distribution among creditors under Section 421, Indian Penal Code, and fraudulent execution of a deed of transfer containing a false statement under Section 423, Indian Penal Code, and the abetment of these offences.

(3.) NOW, it seems to be clear on the authority of Alisaheb v. Mohidin that the subject-matter of the deed of transfer by accused Nos. 1 and 2 to accused No.4 is not only property but is also moveable property. That decision lays down that a contract for cutting of trees to be converted into charcoal is an agreement relating to moveable property.