SHARAD KUMAR SETH Vs. STATE OF WEST BENGAL

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is an application under Sec. 528 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (corresponding to Sec. 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973), seeking the quashing of the proceedings in connection with G.R. Case No. 2087 of 2011, arising out of Sankrail Police Station Case No. 225 of 2011, currently pending before the Learned Judicial Magistrate, 1st Court, Howrah. The Petitioner stands arraigned for the alleged commission of offences punishable under Ss. 420, 471, and 120B of the Indian Penal Code, 1860.

(2.) The central theme of this adjudication involves a delicate intersection of criminal jurisprudence and equity in commercial transactions. The question posed for this Court's determination is whether a criminal prosecution for forgery and cheating can be sustained against a corporate director who, having been allegedly misled into a defective land purchase by impersonators, subsequently cured the defect by paying full market consideration to the rightful owner. The Court must determine if the "restitution of a private property dispute" via a registered instrument renders the continuation of the criminal trial an exercise in futility and an abuse of the judicial process.

(3.) The genesis of the present litigation traces back to early 2008. The Petitioner, acting in his capacity as a Director of South Asia Rubber and Polymers Parks, was in search of land for a corporate project. He was introduced by local intermediaries to Sk. Ambia and Seikh Moktar, who held themselves out as the absolute title-holders of 57 decimals of Sali land in Mouza Jala Dhulagari. Relying upon the title deeds produced by the said individuals, the Petitioner executed a registered Deed of Conveyance on May 9, 2008, paying a consideration of Rs.6,20,727.00 through banking channels.