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Radheyshyam vs. State of Rajasthan

Not available · 2024 INSC 1064Decided 22 Jul 2024
Not available
Justice Vikram Nath · Justice Prasanna Bhalachandra Varale

Background

The appellants had agreed in 2020 to sell a commercial property ("Swami Towers") to respondent no. 2 for about Rs. 5.11 crore, with an advance of Rs. 11 lakh at signing and the rest payable in instalments over 18 months. After respondent no. 2 paid a total of about Rs. 1 crore but the appellants refused to execute the final sale registry, he filed an FIR in 2022 accusing them of cheating and criminal breach of trust, and separately also filed a civil suit for specific performance of the same agreement, which remained pending. The Rajasthan High Court declined to quash the FIR, prompting the appellants' appeal to the Supreme Court.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court held that a mere failure or refusal to complete a sale under an Agreement to Sell, without evidence of fraudulent intent from the outset, does not by itself satisfy the legal ingredients of cheating (Section 420/415 IPC) or criminal breach of trust (Section 406/405 IPC), since there was no dishonest inducement to pay and no "entrustment" of property in the legal sense. The Court found the complaint was essentially an attempt to convert a purely civil contractual dispute (for which the complainant had already sought the correct remedy: a specific performance suit) into a criminal case to pressure the sellers. It therefore allowed the appeal, quashed the FIR, and clarified that its observations would not affect how the pending civil suit is decided on its own merits.

Lesson Learnt

A breach of a property sale agreement or a seller's refusal to register a sale deed is ordinarily a civil wrong to be resolved through a suit for specific performance, not grounds for a criminal complaint of cheating: criminal law cannot be used as a shortcut or pressure tactic to enforce a contract.

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

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