Quash: Cheating: In order to constitute an offence of cheating, the intention to cheat must be available from the inception

Prayer

Criminal Original Petition filed under Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, to call for the entire records pursuant to the case in Crime No.4 of 2022 on the file of first respondent police and quash the same

Facts

The second respondent gave a complaint before the first respondent to the effect that he had paid a sum of Rs.1,09,01,722/- to the petitioner for the period from 03.06.2019 to 31.10.2020. Out of this amount, the petitioner had only returned part of the amount and a sum of Rs.49,00,000/- is due and payable by the petitioner. Since the repeated demands made by the second respondent did not yield any result, a complaint came to be given before the first respondent. The first respondent, on receipt of the complaint, registered a First Information Report in Crime No.4 of 2022 for offence u/s.420 IPC.

This Court has carefully considered the submissions made on either side and the materials available on record.

Cheating ingredients

In order to constitute an offence of cheating, the intention to cheat must be available from the inception. Culpable intention at the very inception cannot be presumed on the failure to keep up a promise subsequently. In the instant case, admittedly the petitioner had only repaid a part of the amount and the balance is yet to be repaid by the petitioner. This act on the part of the petitioner, at the best, can only constitute a breach of contract and it will not constitute an offence of cheating. Useful reference can be made to the judgment of this Court in T.Chandrasekhar v. The State represented by Inspector of Police, Central Crime Branch, Land Grabbing Cell and another [(2011) 3 MLJ (Crl.) 644]. Reference can also be made to the judgment of this Court in R.Jayaraman and others v. K.Ganesan and others [(2019) 1 MLJ (Crl.) 460].

In the light of the above judgment and after taking into consideration the judgment of the Apex Court in Abhishek v. State of Madhya Pradesh [2023 SCC OnLine SC 1083], this Court is of the considered view that the continuation of criminal proceedings against the petitioner will result in abuse of process of law since no offence has been made out against the petitioner.

Conclusion: Quashed

In the result, this Criminal Original Petition is allowed and the First Information Report in Crime No.4 of 2022 on the file of first respondent is hereby quashed. It goes without saying that the quashing of the First Information Report will not come in the way of the petitioner to work out her remedy before the competent civil Court to recover the money from the petitioner. Consequently, connected miscellaneous petitions are closed.

Parties

Saranya W/o.Ramakrishnan 1.State represented by Inspector of Police, DCB, Tiruppur. Crime No.4 of 2022 2.Arumugam S/o.Sivasubramanian … respondents – Crl.O.P No.16978 of 2023 and Crl.M.P.Nos.10910 & 17169 of 2023 – DATED : 03.01.2024.

https://mhc.tn.gov.in/judis/index.php/casestatus/viewpdf/1095656

Saranya vs. State

Further study

https://demonew.section1.in/cheating-breach-of-contract/

https://demonew.section1.in/difference-between-breach-of-contract-cheating-explained/

https://demonew.section1.in/s-c-on-cheating-breach-of-contract/

https://demonew.section1.in/breach-of-contract-is-not-the-only-remedy-for-contract-allegations-section-420-ipc-also-attracted/

https://demonew.section1.in/complaint-must-contain-allegations-on-cheating/

https://demonew.section1.in/cost-honble-supreme-court-imposed-cost-on-the-husband-to-file-cheating-case-on-his-wife/

https://demonew.section1.in/quash-cheating-in-order-to-constitute-an-offence-of-cheating-the-intention-to-cheat-must-be-available-from-the-inception/

https://demonew.section1.in/forgery-not-proved-by-the-prosecution/

https://demonew.section1.in/concerned-court-may-consider-misappropriated-money-should-be-allowed-to-be-deposited-before-the-order-of-anticipatory-bail-or-bail/

https://demonew.section1.in/false-promise-to-marry-marrying-without-witness-does-not-imply-a-fraudulent-marriage-and-having-sex-thereafter-was-the-consensual-one/

https://demonew.section1.in/anticipatory-bail-civil-claims-being-settled-by-pressurising-through-criminal-prosecution-discouraged/