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Manish v. State of Maharashtra

Criminal Appeal · 2025 INSC 430Decided 2 Apr 2025
Crl.A. No.-001742-001742 - 2025 (arising out of SLP (Crl.) No. 10931 of 2022)
Justice Pamidighantam Sri Narasimha · Justice Joymalya Bagchi

Background

Between 2015 and 2017, the appellant purchased coal on credit from the complainant, a coal supplier, but fell into arrears of over Rs. 76 lakh. After negotiations, a notarized agreement was signed in 2020 under which the appellant promised to repay Rs. 80 lakh in installments; he paid only Rs. 5 lakh before defaulting again. The complainant then got an FIR registered under Section 420 IPC alleging the appellant had never intended to pay, and the Bombay High Court refused to quash it, holding the notarized agreement showed an admission of dishonest inducement.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court held that mere breach of a promise to repay does not by itself establish dishonest intention at the inception of a transaction, which is essential to the offence of cheating. Evidence showed the appellant was a genuine businessman with substantial mortgaged properties and had even received a fresh bank loan in 2018, contradicting any claim of concealed insolvency from the start. Since no further supplies were made after the notarized agreement and no fresh property was extracted by deception, the Court found the case was a purely commercial dispute over business losses, not a criminal case of cheating, and quashed the FIR.

Lesson Learnt

A business failure or inability to repay a debt, even after a written promise to pay, does not automatically amount to criminal cheating. The law requires proof of dishonest intention right from the start of the transaction, not just a broken promise made later.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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