Ramkrishan Upadhyay
Chandigarh, December 7
Dr Aman Inder Singh, Chief Judicial Magistrate, has directed the UT police to register an FIR against Manohar Infrastructure and Constructions Pvt Ltd and others for allegedly duping a Mohali resident on the pretext of allotment of a plot at its residential project in Mullanpur, New Chandigarh.
In a complaint filed through counsel Manpreet Singh under Section 156(3) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, Ravkeerat Singh sought directions to the police to register an FIR for the offences punishable under Sections 406, 420 and 120-B of the Indian Penal Code against the builder.
Ravkeerat alleged that on September 22, 2016, the builder issued to him an allotment letter of a plot in the upcoming project, “The Palm”, at Mullanpur, following which he took a bank loan of Rs 21,54,375, which was paid to the builder directly.
The complainant alleged that for around six years, he approached the builder to hand over the possession of the plot, but to no avail. He said he visited the site where he met a person who introduced himself as the owner of that piece of land. The accused later devised a new scheme to further harass and cheat him. The complainant alleged that they coaxed him into signing another agreement for the refund, according to which “Manohar Infrastructure and Construction Pvt Ltd, through its authorised signatory director Dhanwant Singh Sidhu, shall act as buyer and he shall become the seller of the plot.
In furtherance to the agreement and in order to discharge their legal liability, he was issued 14 post dated cheques for Rs 5 lakh each. While first seven cheques were honoured, the next four were dishonoured. When he sent a legal notice, the accused cleared the amount via demand drafts.
Ravkeerat stated that the accused not only created false documents alleging a plot as their property but were also guilty of dishonour of cheques issued to him. He alleged that a complaint in this regard was made to the police, but no action was taken on it following which he filed a complaint before the court.
After hearing of the arguments, the court observed, “It is settled law that if the information clearly mentioned the commission of a cognisable offence, there is no other option but to register an FIR forthwith. Other considerations are not relevant at the stage of registration of FIR, such as whether the information is false, credible or not, etc. These are the issues that have to be verified during the investigation of the FIR. If the information is found to be false during the probe, there is always an option to prosecute the complainant.”
Relying on the Supreme Court judgment in the case of Lalita Kumari versus the Government of UP, the court observed that as there were considerable allegations of cognisable offences, the matter required investigation. Hence, the complaint was sent for registration of case and investigation under 156(3) of the CrPC to the SHO of the police station concerned.
The court has fixed December 22 as the next date of hearing in the case.
