Delhi court directs city police to lodge FIR against property dealer for cheating woman

New Delhi, Jul 7 (PTI) Slamming the Delhi Police for "determining territorial jurisdiction in an unduly restrictive manner", a Delhi court has directed it to register an FIR in a case where a woman was allegedly cheated of Rs 10 lakh in the name of providing her a property in Ghaziabad. Chief Judicial Magistrate Harshita Mishra was hearing an application by a complainant, Anita, seeking the court's direction to register an FIR against the accused, A K Goel, who introduced himself as a property dealer possessing extensive contacts with IIFL Home Finance and allegedly cheated her in the name of delivering her an auction property in Ghaziabad's Ankur Vihar. Advocate Mahmood Alam submitted that Goel induced her client to believe that the proposed transaction was genuine and that the accused possessed the necessary influence and authority to facilitate the transfer of the property. "Reposing faith in such representations, the complainant allegedly paid various sums of money from time to time to Goel and other accused persons, who portrayed themselves to be working for IIFL Home Finance, and despite repeated assurances, the possession of the property was not handed over nor were any documents executed in her favour," Alam said. He said that on making independent enquiries, it was found that the property had already been sold to another purchaser. The Delhi Police, however, refused to register an FIR, saying it lacks territorial jurisdiction to investigate the matter, the advocate said. In an order dated June 26, made available on Tuesday, the court said, "The enquiry report reflects a narrow and legally erroneous understanding of territorial jurisdiction and the jurisdiction to investigate a cognisable offence involving allegations of cheating and criminal conspiracy is not determined merely by the location of the immovable property..." "Instead of examining whether the allegations disclosed commission of cognisable offences, the police appear to have confined themselves to determining territorial jurisdiction in an unduly restrictive manner," it added. It is required to be examined whether any essential ingredient constituting the alleged offence took place within the territorial jurisdiction of the investigating agency, the court added. It noted that as Goel allegedly induced Anita at her office in Ajmeri Gate, and payment of around Rs 4 lakh was made at the IIFL Home Finance situated at Moti Nagar, a substantial and integral part of the cause of action arose within Delhi, conferring jurisdiction upon the city police to investigate the matter. The court said that the enquiry report is also silent regarding the verification of the financial trail. It directed the SHO of Desh Bandhu Gupta Road police station to register an FIR based on the complaint, preferably within a week from the receipt of the order. "The Investigating Officer (IO) shall examine the role of all the proposed accused persons, verify the financial trail of the payments allegedly made by the complainant, ascertain the status of the property in question, seek necessary information from IIFL Home Finance, collect all documentary, electronic and oral evidence and proceed strictly in accordance with law," the court said. It said that the IO had to file a detailed status report regarding the investigation within six weeks from the date of registration of the FIR. The matter has been posted for filing the compliance report on August 25. PTI MNR MNR KSS KSS