Pulling up the investigation officer in a cheating case for being ‘lackadaisical’, a Delhi court has set aside a Magistrate court’s order to sentence an accused to three years’ jail, besides imposing a fine of ₹50,000 on him.
The judgment came on an appeal against the acquittal.
‘No criminal intention’
The Magistrate court had acquitted Rajat Khanna saying that he had no criminal intention to cheat the complainants, and that the dispute in question was civil in nature.
The Crime Branch had registered a case against the accused in 2004 based on a complaint by two silk fabric suppliers. They had alleged that the accused and one of his associates had cheated them of lakhs by not making payments after inducing them to supply the fabric.
Though the accused had later arrived at a compromise with one of the complainants and three others, the court held him guilty as he had not settled the case with the other complainant.
“I am conscious of the fact that after the deposition by cheated persons, accused Rajat Khanna entered into a compromise with them who compounded the offence of cheating. The fact of the matter is that no compromise was effected with Subhash Bansal (the other complainant),” said Special Judge Hemani Malhotra.
“Prosecution has successfully proved the guilt of accused/respondent that he had conspired with his associate Sachin Duggal to cheat... and in pursuance of the said conspiracy, he had cheated them,’’ the Judge said.
The Judge also pulled up the investigating officer for not probing charges against the second accused, Sachin Duggal, in a proper manner.
