ASHFAQ AHMED QUERESHI & ANR.versusNAMRATA CHOPRA & ORS.

                  [2013] 17 S.C.R. 255


          ASHFAQ AHMED QUERESHI & ANR.                       A
                            v.
               NAMRATA CHOPRA & ORS.
           (Criminal Appeal No. 2100 of 2013)
                  DECEMBER 17, 2013
                                                             B
      [DR. B.S. CHAUHAN AND S.A. BOBDE, JJ.]

     Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 - s.482 - Criminal
proceeding u/s. 420 !PC against respondents-accused -
Complaint alleging that respondent No. 1 and 2 entered into C
agreement to sell a piece of land to them, showing
themselves to be exclusive owners of the land - Whereas they
had shown the same land as open land for parking in their
application which they had filed with co-sharers seeking
permission for construction of Club House -(Proceedings D
quashed by High Court on the ground that in the application
seeking permission to raise Club House, their signatures
were forged - On appeal, held: There is sufficient evidence
to show that respondent Nos. 1 and 2 were not exclusive
owners of the property in dispute and that in the application E
for permission to construct Club House, the disputed land was
.shown as open land for parking - Their plea of forged
signatures is not acceptable because the plea was not raised
earlier, nor was there any complaint in this regard made either
before Police or Court - The case involves large number of F
disputed questions of fact - Therefore, High Court could not
have quashed the proceedings - Penal Code, 1860 - s. 420.

    CRIMINAL AP PELLATE JURISDICTION : Criminal Appeal
No. 2100 of 2013.
                                                             G
    From the Judgment and Order dated 15.03.2012 of the
High Court of M. P. at Jabalpur in MCRC No. 8882 of 2011.

    Vikas Upadhyay for the Appellant.
                           255                               H
    256       SUPREME COURT REPORTS              [2013] 17 S.C.R.


A       Prashant Kumar, Vaibhav Srivastava ( for AP & J
    Chambers), Arjun Garg, Mishra Saurabh, Sangita Bhayana,
    Amlan Kumar Ghosh for the Respondents.

          The Order of the Court was delivered by
B      DR. B.S. CHAUHAN, J. 1. This appeal has been
  preferred against the impugned judgment and order dated
  15.3.2012 passed by the High Court of Madhya Pradesh at
  Jabalpur in M.Cr.C. No. 8882/2011, by which the High Court
  has quashed the criminal proceedings against the respondent
C Nos. 1 and 2 in exercise of its power under Section 482 of
  Code of'Criminal Procedure, 1973 (hereinafter referred to as
  the 'Cr.P.C.').

          2. Facts and circumstances giving rise to this appeal are
D that:
                   i
       A. The appellants entered into an agreement for sale of
  land ad measuring 1.1 O acres of land out of 2.20 acres of total
  land on 26.11.2009 which .had been claimed by the said
  respondents 1 & 2 to be of their exclusive ownership and for
E that appellants paid a sum of rupees fifty lakhs to the said
  respondents as earnest money out of the consideration of
  Rs.1,50,93,540/-.

        B. The sale deed could not be executed as the appellants
F did not make the payment for the reason that the said
  respondents did not complete the legal formalities for
  transferring the land. Later on, the appellants came to know that
  the· said respondent Nos.1 & 2 alongwith other co-sharers had
  got permission dated 27.3.2006 from the Municipal Corporation
G of Bhopal for construction of the Club House on the part of the
  said land and the subject matter of agreement to sell had been
  shown therein as open land for parking purposes. The Club
  House has already been constructed on the land and the suit
  land is to be used only for parking purpose.
H
ASHFAQ AHMED QUERESHI v. NAMRATA CHOPRA 257
          [DR. B.S. CHAUHAN, J.]
     C. After realizing that the appellants got cheated, there had   A
been claims and counter claims between the parties and
ultimately several notices were exchanged between the parties.
The appellants claimed a refund of rupees fifty lakhs with
interest, while the respondents wanted to forfeit the earnest
money for non-payment of further instalments as agraed by the        B
parties. The appellants filed a complaint under Section 200
Cr.P.C. on 26.8.2010.
    D. As the respondents came to know about filing of the
complaint they sold the suit property to one Ms. Nanhi J. Walia
on 23.10.2010.                                                       c
     E. In the complaint case, evidence of the complainant and
his witnesses were recorded in November, 2010 and being
satisfied, the learned Magistrate took cognizance vide order
dated 6.12.2010 for the offence punishable under Section 420         D
of Indian Penal Code, 1860.
    F. All the shares of other co-sharers of the said respondent
Nos. 1 & 2 were also sold on 23.2.2011 to Ms. Nanhi J. Walia.
     G. Aggrieved, the respondent Nos. 1 & 2 filed a petition        E
under Section 482 Cr.P.C. for quashing the complaint qua them
on the ground that there had been a partition between the
parties (co-sharers) and so far as the application for seeking
permission to raise the Club House on the suit land was
concerned, it had not been signed by the said respondents/
                                                                     F
applicants, rather their signatures had been forged by the co-
sharers.

     H. The High Court considered the case of both sides and
ultimately quashed the criminal proceedings qua the said
respondent Nos. 1 and 2.                                             G

     Hence, this a~peal
    3. We have heard Shri Vikas Upadhyay, learned counsel
appearing for the appellants, Shri Prashant Kumar, learned
counsel for respondent Nos. 1 & 2 and Shri Arjun Garg, learned       H
    258       SUPREME COURT REPORTS               (2013] 17 S.C.R.


A counsel for the State and have also gone through the record of
  the case.
          4. There is sufficient evidence on record to show that the
    property belonged not only to the respondent Nos.1 & 2, but
    they were the owners alongwith respondent Nos.3 and 4. The
B   respondent No.3 has died and respondent No.4 has been
    deleted from the array of parties by this court earlier. There is
    ample evidence on record that the permission had been sought
    and obtained from Municipal Corporation of Bhopal for raising·
    the construction of a Club House and the land in dispute had
C   been shown as vacant land for parking. It is too late for the
    respondent Nos.1 & 2 to say that the respondent Nos.3 and 4
    might have forged their signatures for the reason that it is not
    their case in the counter affidavit or even before the High Court
    that they had ever raised any objection or filed any complaint
D   before the police or any competent court for forging their
    signatures by someone else on the said application. More so,
    there are disputes regarding partition and demarcation of
    shares between the respective parties. The sale deeds are also
    on record that their shares have been sold not only by
E   respondent Nos.3 & 4 but also by respondent Nos.1 & 2
    subsequently and there is no land available today. No
    explanation could be furnished by Mr. Prashant Kumar
    appearing for respondent nos. 1 & 2 as to why this fact had
    not been brought to the notice of the court.
F        5. As the case raises a large number of disputed questions
    of fact, we are of the considered opinion that there was no
    occasion for the High Court to allow the petition under Section
    482 Cr.P.C. and quash the criminal proceedings qua the said
    respondents·.
G        6. In view of the above, we set aside the impugned
    judgment and order dated 15.3.2012 and allow the appeal. The
    learned trial court is directed to proceed against the said
     respondents in accordance with law.
    Kalpana K. Tripathy                               Appeal allowed.
H