1 IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION CRI. WRIT PETITION NO.3094 OF 2011 Deepak Rajendra Uramaliya .. Petitioner V/s The State of Maharashtra & Anr. .. Respondents Mr.Kuldeep Patil for the petitioner. Mrs.A.S.Pai, APP for Respondent No.1. Mr.Prashant Hagare for Respondent No.2. CORAM: A.M.KHANWILKAR & R.G.KETKAR, JJ. DATE: 15th November, 2011. P.C.: 1. Heard learned Counsel for the parties. Rule. Rule is made returnable forthwith by consent. 2. This petition is filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India for quashing and setting aside the FIR bearing C.R.No.212 of 2011 registered with N.M.Joshi Marg Police Station, Mumbai for the offences punishable under Sections 403 & 420 of IPC. 3. The petitioner has been named as accused on the allegations that he mis-used the Debit Card of the complainant which was left behind by the complainant in the restaurant due to mistake. The amount misappropriated by the petitioner is said to be around Rs. 95,381/-. The petitioner has filed this petition essentially because 2 the parties have now amicably settled the matter. The petitioner has returned the entire amount used by him to the complainant, and now the complainant is not interested in pursuing the criminal matter against the petitioner. Ordinarily there would be no difficulty in acceding to the request for quashing of FIR if the dispute is essentially a private dispute. 4. In the present case the petitioner is alleged to have mis-used the Debit Card of the complainant to the extent of Rs.95,381/-. However, it is submitted that since the petitioner has been charged and will be processed for the offences punishable under sections 403, 420 of the IPC, which offences are compoundable by its very nature, no fruitful purpose would be served by pursuing the matter further. 5. It is submitted that the petitioner has approached this Court because the chargesheet is yet to be filed and the criminal Court has still not taken cognizance of the offence. In the context of this submission, we had called upon the learned APP to ascertain as to whether the petitioner is involved in similar offences in the past. On instructions, it is stated by the learned APP that no other offence is registered against the petitioner, either that of mis-use 3 of Credit/Debit Card or otherwise. 6. Considering the above, in the interest of justice, we are inclined to accede to the request of the petitioner to quash the FIR, as even if the police were to complete the investigation and file the chargesheet, the petitioner would be free to move the criminal Court for compounding of the said offences. 7. In the peculiar circumstances therefore, we allow this petition in terms of prayer clause (a), which reads thus:- “That this Hon’ble Court may pass appropriate order and quash and set aside all the proceedings arising out of and the FIR bearing C.R.No.212 of 2011 registered with N.M.Joshi Marg Police Station, Mumbai for offences punishable under Sections 403, 420 of IPC.” (R.G.KETKAR, J.) (A.M.KHANWILKAR, J.)