Gurgaon court raps SHO over delay in filing FIR in cheating case

On December 28, M3M India Private Limited had filed a complaint at the city police station against MGF Developments Limited, its directors and others, alleging that the accused, in collusion with others, had cheated the complainant company of Rs 88 crore. The spokesperson for MGF Developments Limited could not be reached for a comment.

In the order, the court observed that “even after the order and a time gap of almost two days, no FIR has been registered by SHO City, Gurgaon. Hence, the court is again strictly directing the SHO City, Gurgaon, to lodge the FIR in the aforesaid complaint as directed by court vide order dated 30.12.2021 and place the copy of registered FIR in court on or before 2.01.2022.”

On December 30, the court had ordered, “… this court prima facie finds that the matter needs to be investigated by police for which lodging of the FIR is sine quo non…” It had added, “The SHO concerned is directed to register an FIR against the accused and intimation regarding registration of the FIR be submitted to the court forthwith.”

The complainant said they had agreed to develop a parcel of land of the accused for residential, commercial, retail, entertainment, mixed land use and recreational project and as per a collaboration agreement, had paid Rs 88 crore in 2016 as a security deposit.

The complainant alleged the accused persons delayed commencement of work and in December 2021, they found the accused to have sold the land to another party. The complainant said the accused, through forgery and nexus with a former employee, had allegedly executed a cancellation deed on their behalf, while no such cancellation deed was ever communicated, informed, or consented to by the complainant.

Kuldeep Yadav, advocate for the complainant, said, “We had moved an application for contempt proceedings against the police officials concerned since they were not registering an FIR for cognizable offences despite court’s orders on the same.”