Gujarat High Court
Soumallya Swapan Roy vs State Of Gujarat on 7 August, 2025
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IN THE HIGH COURT OF GUJARAT AT AHMEDABAD
R/CRIMINAL MISC.APPLICATION (FOR QUASHING & SET ASIDE
FIR/ORDER) NO. 17724 of 2015
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SOUMALLYA SWAPAN ROY
Versus
STATE OF GUJARAT & ANR.
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Appearance:
MR. SURAJ A SHUKLA(7185) for the Applicant(s) No. 1
MR BC DAVE(245) for the Respondent(s) No. 2
MR CHINTAN DAVE, ADDL. PUBLIC PROSECUTOR for the Respondent(s)
No. 1
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CORAM:HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE J. C. DOSHI
Date : 07/08/2025
ORAL ORDER
1. By way of this application under Section 482 of the Code
of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (hereinafter referred to as "the
Code"), the petitioner has prayed for quashing and setting
aside FIR being C.R.No.I - 212 of 2014 registered with Umra
Police Station, for the offences punishable under Sections
406, 420, 114 of the IPC as well as all other consequential
proceedings arising out of the aforesaid FIR qua the petitioner
herein.
2. Seeking quashment of the impugned FIR, Learned
advocate for the petitioner would submit that the petitioner is
a Director of Vardhman Sunmarg LIC Micro Insurance, Govt.
of India Registered Organization (in short "LIC organization")
only on paper and he had never actively involved in the
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business of LIC organization. He would further submit that
the petitioner was a stationary supplier and he is saving his
money in the LIC organization. He would further submit that
the FIR incorrectly shows the petitioner as Director of the LIC
organization. He would further submit that the petitioner
since is a victim of the alleged scheme floated by the LIC
organization, he cannot be treated as accused in the matter.
He would further submit that the petitioner has not taken any
financial gain or advantage from the alleged scheme. He
would further submit that the petitioner never knew about
running of the office of the LIC organization at Surat and
since he was just a paper Director, he cannot be treated as
accused in the offence. He would further submit that since
the petitioner was supplier of press materials, the petitioner
was required to recover Rs.33 lakh from the LIC organization
and since his payment was not made by the LIC organization,
he has also registered FIR u/s 420 of the IPC at Vardhaman
Police Station, West Bengal. Thus, he submits that since the
petitioner is also the victim of the alleged scheme floated by
the LIC organization, present petition deserves consideration
by allowing the same.
2.1 Mainly upon above submissions, learned advocate Mr.
Shukla for the petitioner requests to allow this petition and to
quash and set aside the impugned FIR.
3. On the other hand, learned advocate Mr. BC Dave
appearing for the respondent No.2 taking this Court through
the FIR would submit that the life savings money of the poor
and downtrodden people in tune of Rs.64,63,550/- have been
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siphoned and swindled away by the petitioner in collusion
with other accused persons. He would further submit that the
petitioner was one of the Directors of the LIC organization
and therefore, he is vicariously liable. He would further
submit that the offence of sections 406 and 420 of the IPC is
prima facie made out against the petitioner. He would further
submit that the scheme was floated in the year 2010, whereby
decent returns in the investment was promised. Moreover,
the complainant, who is agent of the LIC organization has also
propagated the schemes of the LIC organization. However,
later on, no returns on the invested amounts are paid to the
complainant as well as the victim, which prima facie indicates
that the offence of criminal breach of trust and cheating are
made out.
3.1 Upon above submissions, learned advocate Mr. Dave
prays to dismiss the petition.
4. Learned APP having joined the arguments of learned
advocate Mr. BC Dave, placing on record report of the
investigating officer, would submit that in total, three offences
are registered against the petitioner for the identical offence
and the CBI had invested the offence, which indicates that the
petitioner is habitual in making identical kind of offence. He
would further submit that moreover, huge amount of poor and
downtrodden people are siphoned away by the Director of the
LIC organization by floating various schemes, luring them for
investment. He would further submit that the quashing
petition is filed at threshold and the investigation in the
offence is yet going on. In the aforesaid premises, leaned APP
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prays to dismiss the petition.
5. At the outset, I may refer the FIR filed by the
complainant Naynaben. The FIR is comprehensive enough to
understand the factual dispute of the case. The contents of
the FIR reads as under (translated into English from
vernacular language):-
"My name is Nayanaben, widow of Bharatbhai
Fakirbhai Patel, age 40 years, occupation -
homemaker, R/o Gosai Gopal Street, Bhimpore
village, Surat, mobile No.9099885420.
Upon being asked in person, I state the facts of my
complaint that, I reside at the above mentioned
address with my children and I sustain my livelihood
through household work and by doing fabric work on
sarees on a labour basis. After death of my husband, I
have been managing the maintenance of my family. In
2010, I started working as an agent with Vardhman
Sanmarg LIC Micro Insurance, Government of India
Registered Organization BST (P) Organizers and
continued working there till 2013. Moreover, from
2012 to 2014, I was also associated as an agent with
Animate Realcon India Ltd. and Animate Daily Hub, a
division of Realcon India Ltd. and along with me,
other agents had also worked as agents in both these
companies.
The office of Animate Realcon India Ltd. and
Animate Daily Hub, a division of Realcon India Ltd.
was situated next to the office of Vardhman Sanmarg
LIC Micro Insurance Government of India Registered
Organization BST (P) Organizers.
You, the Officer showed me today the application
bearing Umra Police Station C.P. Application
No.188/2014 dated 12/08/2014, typed in Gujarati,
addressed to the Collector. The said application has
been submitted by me and (1) Varshaben C. Patel,
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residing at House No.96, Phulbai Street, Bhimpore,
Surat, (2) Vimuben G. Patel, residing at 1088, Sabari
Dham, Bhimpore village, Surat, (3) A. K. Patel,
residing at Japti Shakha, Bhimpore village, Surat, (4)
Manjulaben B. Patel, residing at Piplod, Surat, (5)
Kanaiyabhai B. Munsi, residing at B/1/8,
Bhavdarshan, Magdalla village, Surat, (6) Habib
Hasan, residing at 444, Dharmyug Society, near
Madhi ni Khamani, Udhna, Surat, (7) Rajeshkumar
Pal, residing at 151, Hegdewadnagar, Vesu, Surat, (8)
Ishwar Nayak, residing at H/93, Khodiyarnagar,
Bhatar, Surat, (9) Vijaysingh Rajput, residing at
14/4563, Mandir Mohallo, Jantatibaug, Koylikhadi,
Umarwada, Surat, (10) Arvindbhai P. Patel, residing
at Sabari Dham, Bhimpore, Surat, against the accused
persons mentioned in the application namely - (1)
Vardhman Sanmarg LIC Micro Insurance Government
of India Registered Organization BST (P) Organizers,
having License No.U/SRP Act-1956, License
No.101072 dated 29/10/2010, Vardhman Sanmarg
Welfare Organization G.O. Unit of Registration
No.2684 Certified (Section-60), Address: Head Office:
R-J-58 A Dabri Extension, New Delhi-110045, (2)
Animate Realcon India Ltd. (Animate Product),
Corporate Office: 9/6, Khanpur Road (N.S.C. Bose
Road), Kolkata-700047, (3) Animate Daily Hub, a
division of Realcon India Ltd. (Public Company)
Companies Act-1956, Registered Office: 15-700047,
(4) Hardane Chaudhary, Director, Vardhman Sanmarg
LIC Micro Insurance, Address: D/S/Rachnal Sound,
East Part, Vardhman 713102, West Bengal, India,
Surat, (5) Somalya Roy, Director, Vardhman Sanmarg
LIC Micro Insurance, Address: Weather Arpana Ghat,
Jorapkur Sanalagna Area, Ward No.28, Vardhman
713102, West Bengal, India, Surat, (6) Somaru
Bhoumik, Managing Director, Vardhman Sanmarg LIC
Micro Insurance, Address: Dhruvkumar Bhoumik,
Ramkrishna Palli Palan Road, Chailya, West Bengal,
India, (7) Madan Adhikari, Director, Vardhman
Sanmarg LIC Micro Insurance, Address: Bukbuk,
Vardhman 713403, West Bengal, India, (8) Arutk
Ghosh, Director, Vardhman Sanmarg LIC Micro
Insurance, Address: A. N. Basu Road, Vardhman
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7131013, West Bengal, India, (9) Amitkumar Dey,
Director, Animate Daily Hub, Address: Arui,
Panchimpara, Arui Mabha Badihi, Vardhman, West
Bengal 713421, (10) Sandip Chakravarty (CMD),
Animate Realcon India Ltd. In this connection, I
dictate that in 2010, witness No.(5) mentioned in the
application - Kanaiyabhai B. Munshi, residing at B/1/8,
Bhavidarshan Magdalla village, Surat, met me and
asked me as to, what work are you engaged in at
present, to which, I replied, I am currently
unemployed. He gave me the proposal that, you are
required to work as an agent in the company, which
has launched a scheme, wherein you are to explain
the scheme to customers, enroll them as members in
the scheme and also explain to them returns and
profit amount they will receive after a certain number
of days or months upon investing money in the
scheme. For each member enrolled by you, the
company will pay the commission and in this way, you
will be able to earn a good monthly income.
Therefore, I agreed to join the company as an agent
and he gave me the membership form brochure of
Vardhman Sanmarg LIC Micro Insurance Government
of India as well as the scheme forms of Vardhman
Sanmarg LIC Micro Insurance Government of India,
which had schemes of 12 months, 18 months, 36
months and fixed deposit schemes of 24 months and
60 months. I explained these schemes to people living
in Bhimpore village and to my relatives and I enrolled
them as members in the scheme. The persons
mentioned in the application - (1) Varshaben C. Patel,
residing at House No.96, Phulbai Street, Bhimpore,
Surat, (2) Vimuben G. Patel, residing at 1088, Sabari
Dham, Bhimpore village, Surat, (3) A. K. Patel,
residing at Japti Shakha, Bhimpore village, Surat, (4)
Manjulaben B. Patel, residing at Piplod, Surat, (5)
Habib Hasan, residing at 444, Dharmyug Society,
near Madhi ni Khamani, Udhna, Surat, (6)
Rajeshkumar Pal, residing at 151, Hegdewadnagar,
Vesu, Surat, (7) Ishwar Nayak, residing at H/93,
Khodiyarnagar, Bhatar, Surat, (8) Vijaysingh Rajput,
residing at 14/4563, Mandir Mohallo, Jantatibaug,
Koylikhadi, Umarwada, Surat, (9) Arvindbhai P. Patel,
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residing at Sabari Dham, Bhimpore, Surat also joined
as agents in this company. The company we were
working for was in West Bengal and our work was
carried out by post and through the old agent of
Vardhman Sanmarg LIC Micro Insurance Government
of India, namely witness Pradeep Barik. As the
membership base for the schemes of the company was
expanded through our agents and the company
gained monetary benefit, in 2011, they told witness
No.(5) Kanaiyabhai B. Munshi and witness
Pradeepbhai to start an office in Surat and they
considered the shop of Hitesh Surti located near the
new Magdalla bus stand for the office. In April 2011,
the office of Vardhman Sanmarg LIC Micro Insurance
Government of India was started and from 2012, the
office of Vardhman Sanmarg LIC Micro Insurance Ltd.
and Animate Daily Hub, a division of Realcon India
Ltd., was also started. We were given the membership
form brochures of Animate Realcon India Ltd. and
Animate Daily Hub, a division of Realcon India Ltd. as
well as scheme forms of Animate Realcon India Ltd.,
Realcon India Ltd. and Animate Daily Hub, a division
of Realcon India Ltd. which had schemes of 12
months, 24 months, 36 months, 60 months and fixed
deposit schemes of 24 months, 60 months and 16
years. Along with me, witness Vimuben G. Patel,
witness Manjulaben B. Patel, witness Kanaiyabhai B.
Munshi, witness Rajeshkumar Pal and Arvindbhai P.
Patel worked as agents in this company. From 2012 to
2014 and from 2010 to 2013, they took me and
witness agents associated with Vardhman Sanmarg
LIC Micro Insurance Government of India into
confidence and as per their brochures and schemes,
got us to enroll members in their company, lured
them with attractive schemes and deposited money
into the company through us and on 15/05/2013,
Vardhman Sanmarg LIC Micro Insurance Government
of India and on 15/03/2014, Animate Realcon India
Ltd. and Animate Daily Hub, a division of Realcon
India Ltd. locked their offices and absconded and
thereby, the accused Nos.1 to 10 including both the
companies mentioned above, in collusion with each
other, committed fraud worth lakhs of rupees against
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us as well as the members we had enrolled."
6. Two different companies, namely, Vardhman Sunmarg
LIC Micro Insurance, Govt. of India Registered Organization
and Animate Daily Hub are division of Realcon India Ltd.,
involved in siphoning money of poor and downtrodden people,
who invested the amount in the recurring investment scheme
with the hope that they will get some decent returns. The
table which is the part of the FIR indicates that around Rs.63
lakh have been siphoned by two companies through their
Directors. The petitioner is arraigned as accused on the
ground that he is the Director of the LIC organization. The
quashing petition is filed at the threshold and the
investigation requires to be carried out in the matter.
However, the report tendered by learned APP for the
investigation completed till filing of the report indicates that
the petitioner is running away from the clutches of the law
and therefore, the competent Court issued warrant u/s 70 of
the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 against the petitioner.
The petitioner is involved in three identical offences. Though
the petitioner has claimed that he is falsely implicated in the
offence and he is just a paper Director and the victim as he is
owing Rs.33 lakh from the LIC organization for supply of
printing press material, all are the disputed questions and can
be raised during trial, however, they are insufficient to quash
the FIR. The petitioner has not placed any other documents
suggesting that he was not the Director of the LIC
organization during the alleged time period where different
schemes of recurring deposits were floated and the the poor
and downtrodden are being lured to invest their hard earning
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money in the schemes and subsequently, their hard earning
money have been siphoned away by the accused.
7. In MCD v. Ram Kishan Rohtagi, (1983) 1 SCC 1:
1983 SCC (Cri) 115, the Hon'ble Apex Court held that
proceedings can be quashed on the face of the complaint and
papers accompanying the same if no offence is constituted.
The Court cannot add or substract anything. In para 10, it
has been held as under:-
"10. It is, therefore, manifestly clear that proceedings
against an accused in the initial stages can be
quashed only if, on the face of the complaint or the
papers accompanying the same, no offence is
constituted. In other words, the test is that taking the
allegations and the complaint as they are, without
adding or subtracting anything, if no offence is made
out, then the High Court will be justified in quashing
the proceedings in exercise of its powers under
Section 482 of the present Code."
8. The truthfulness and/or otherwise of the allegations
cannot be gone into by the High Court u/s 482 of the Code of
Criminal Procedure, 1973 is the finding of the Hon'ble Apex
Court in case of Maneesha Yadav v. State of U.P., 2024
SCC OnLine SC 643. It was observed:-
"13. As has already been observed hereinabove, the
Court would not be justified in embarking upon an
enquiry as to the reliability or genuineness or
otherwise of the allegations made in the FIR or the
complaint at the stage of quashing of the proceedings
under Section 482 Cr.P.C. However, the allegations
made in the FIR/complaint, if taken at their face
value, must disclose the commission of an offence and
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make out a case against the accused. At the cost of
repetition, in the present case, the allegations made
in the FIR/complaint, even if taken at their face value,
do not disclose the commission of an offence or make
out a case against the accused. We are of the
considered view that the present case would fall
under Category-3 of the categories enumerated by
this Court in the case of Bhajan Lal (supra)."
9. Simultaneously, while exercising jurisdiction u/s 482 of
the Code, the Court cannot hold mini trial and appreciate the
evidence. [See: Dharambeer Kumar Singh v. State of
Jharkhand, (2025) 1 SCC 392 as well as in case of CBI v.
Aryan Singh, (2023) 18 SCC 399]. The relevant para from
the judgment reads as under:-
"17. This Court, in a series of judgments, has held
that while exercising inherent jurisdiction under
Section 482 of the Criminal Procedure Code, 1973,
the High Court is not supposed to hold a mini-trial. A
profitable reference can be made to the judgment in
CBI v. Aryan Singh [CBI v. Aryan Singh, (2023) 18
SCC 399: 2023 SCC OnLine SC 379]. The relevant
paragraph from the judgment is extracted hereunder:
(SCC paras 6-7)
6. ... As per the cardinal principle of law, at the
stage of discharge and/or quashing of the
criminal proceedings, while exercising the powers
under Section 482CrPC, the Court is not required
to conduct the mini-trial. ...
7. ... At the stage of discharge and/or while
exercising the powers under Section 482CrPC,
the Court has very limited jurisdiction and is
required to consider 'whether any sufficient
material is available to proceed further against
the accused for which the accused is required to
be tried or not'."
10. In the aforesaid circumstances, while referring to the
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judgment in case of Ajay Malik v. State of Uttarakhand,
2025 SCC OnLine SC 185, the Hon'ble Apex Court
reiterated the position of law for quashing the FIR as under:-
"8. It is well established that a High Court, in
exercising its extraordinary powers under Section 482
of the CrPC, may issue orders to prevent the abuse of
court processes or to secure the ends of justice. These
inherent powers are neither controlled nor limited by
any other statutory provision. However, given the
broad and profound nature of this authority, the High
Court must exercise it sparingly. The conditions for
invoking such powers are embedded within Section
482 of the CrPC itself, allowing the High Court to act
only in cases of clear abuse of process or where
intervention is essential to uphold the ends of justice.
9. It is in this backdrop that this Court, over the
course of several decades, has laid down the
principles and guidelines that High Courts must
follow before quashing criminal proceedings at the
threshold, thereby pre-empting the Prosecution from
building its case before the Trial Court. The grounds
for quashing, inter alia, contemplate the following
situations : (i) the criminal complaint has been filed
with mala fides; (ii) the FIR represents an abuse of the
legal process; (iii) no prima facie offence is made out;
(iv) the dispute is civil in nature; (v.) the complaint
contains vague and omnibus allegations; and (vi) the
parties are willing to settle and compound the dispute
amicably (State of Haryana v. Bhajan Lal, 1992 Supp
(1) SCC 335)."
11. In the background of above, the FIR since prima facie
established commission of cognizable offence against the
petitioner and the face of the FIR indicates that the finance
companies have siphoned away hard earning money of poor
and downtrodden people, this petition cannot be entertained
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at this stage.
12. In the result, present petition fails and stands dismissed.
Notice discharged. Interim relief granted earlier stands
vacated.
(J. C. DOSHI,J)
SHEKHAR P. BARVE
