JAGDISH VALECHA Vs. STATE OF MADHYA PRADESH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner has filed this petition under Section 482 of the CrPC seeking quashment of the First Information Report in respect of him registered at Crime No.155 of 2016 in Police Station Maharajpura Gwalior against him and three other accused persons for the offences punishable under Sections 420 , 406 , 506 , 294 and 34 of the I.P.C.

(2.) The brief facts leading to the filing of this petition as disclosed in the F.I.R are thus :- On 5.5.2016, complainant Yatendra Singh Chauhan, who is respondent no.5 herein, lodged the written complaint with police station Maharajpura Gwalior stating that he is the owner of the M/s Yatendra Chauhan Contractors and Suppliers. Petitioner Jagdish Valecha and his brother Dinesh Valecha are the Directors of the Valecha Engineering Pvt. Ltd Co. (for short "the company"). Kapil Valecha and Karan Valecha are the sons of the petitioner. M.H.Mehta is the General Manager of the company. On 10.10.2014, on behalf of the company, M.H.Mehta had entered into a written agreement with him in his residence at DH 89 DD Nagar Gwalior. According to the agreement, he had to supply 2,50,000/- metric tons "crushed stones aggregate" at the work site of the company as it has got the contract of construction of four lane road of Etawah-Mainpuri Purawali at that time. As per the agreement, he supplied crushed stones worth Rs.68,00,000/- (sixty eight lac) during the period from November-December 2014 and January 2015. The company paid him only 10,00,000/- (ten lac) rupees against the aforesaid amount. The company gave him two cheques bearing Nos.69999 and 993058. Both the cheques were dishonored by the drawee bank of the company. The directors and the employees of the company fled away from the work site. One Navin Bajaj also lodged an FIR at Police Station Jhansi Road Gwalior for the similar type of the offences having been committed by them. In that case, the police arrested Dinesh Valecha from Mumbai. When he was being brought to Gwalior, he escaped from the custody of the police at Railway-Station Bina. Now, the aforestated persons would hurl at him various kinds of filthy abuses and would give him death threats on phones. Upon the complaint, Police Mahajarajpura Gwalior registered the FIR at Crime No.155 of 2016 and have made the petitioner, Dinesh Valecha, Kapil Valecha and Karan Valecha the accused persons of the case for committing the offences punishable under Sections 420 , 406 , 506 , 294 and 34 I.P.C.

(3.) Learned Counsel for the petitioner submitted that as per the F.I.R, M.H.Mehta had entered into an agreement on behalf of the company for the supply of crushed stones. The police have not made him an accused of the case, whereas he is the main accused. He further submitted that the complainant has stated in the FIR that the company had given him two cheques towards the outstanding amount. But, he had mentioned in the FIR only cheque numbers without the dates on which the cheques are issued, amount of each of the two cheques, the name(s) of drawee bank (s), the name(s) of signatory(s) of the cheques and the date(s) of dishonour of the cheques. He further submitted that Kapil Valecha and Karan Valecha are neither directors of the company nor the employees of the company. He further submitted that the complainant has made general and vague allegations against them for giving abuses and life threats to him because in the FIR the dates, timings of the telephone calls, telephone number(s) through which they would give him abuses and death threats and the telephone number(s) on which he had received the same are not given. He further submitted that the complainant has made Kapil Valecha and Karan Valecha accused of the case with an ulterior motive to bring pressure upon the petitioner and Dinesh Valecha for payment of the outstanding amount. He further submitted that there is no iota of facts in the FIR to prove prima facie that the petitioner and Dinesh Valecha had intention to cheat him or commit breach of trust against him before the execution of the agreement. He further submitted that the real dispute between the company and the complainant is that he had supplied the crushed stones of poor quality to the company resulting in non-payment of the amount as demanded by him. Thus, the dispute between the complainant on one side and the accused persons and the company on the other is of purely monetary dispute of civil nature. Thus, no offence against the petitioner under Sections 420 (for cheating), 406 (for breach of trust), 294 (giving filthy abuses) and 506 (for giving life threats) I.P.C are made out. Therefore, the FIR be quashed in respect of the petitioner. In support of the submissions, he placed reliance on the decisions rendered in the case of State Of Haryana And Ors Vs Ch. Bhajan Lal And Ors, AIR 1992 SC 604, International Advanced Research Centre for Powder Metallurgy and new Materials (ARCI) & Others Vs. Nimra Cerglass Technics Private Ltd & another, (2016) 1 SCC 348, M.Cr.C.No.1942 of 2004 and M.Cr.C.No.2005 of 2004, cause-title Wolfang Rein & ORS Vs. State and ANR, date of orders dated 2.7.2012 passed by the Delhi High Court and a few orders passed by this High Court and the Bombay High Court under Section 482 CrPC in unreported cases.