IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA Cr.Misc. No.13120 of 2007 Sri Narayan Vaghul, Son of Sri V.Narayanan, the Chairman, ICICI Bank Ltd. ICICI Towers, Bandra Kurla Complex,Mumbai -------------------------------- Petitioner Versus 1. The State Of Bihar 2. Binay Kumar, Son of Sri Bhagwan Singh, resident of Flat No.A-26, Jagat Amravati Officers Flat, Mahesh Nagar,Baily Road, District-Patna ------ Opp.Parties. ----------- For the petitioner : M/S Vidya Sagar, Kumar Onkar Nath, and Samir Kumar Ranjan, Advocates For the State : Mr.Jharkhandi Upadhaya, A.P.P. -------------- O R D E R The petitioner, who is the Chairman of ICICI Bank Ltd. and has been arrayed as an accused in Complaint Case no.795(C) of 2001 has prayed for the quashing of the entire criminal proceeding arising therefrom, so far as he is concerned, including the order dated 22.5.2001 passed therein by Sri P.N.Sharma, the erstwhile Judicial Magistrate, First Class, Patna, whereby he has taken cognizance for commission of offences under Section 406 I.P.C. against all the accused, including the petitioner. One Binay Kumar, the complainant, impleaded herein as Opp.Party no.2, filed the aforesaid complaint inter alia asserting that attracted by accused no.1, Modern Denim Ltd., offering 19 % interest for fully secured Non-Convertible Debentures, he invested Rs.9850 /- through application no.M0021313 by Account Payee Cheque No.484437250 dated 21.3.1997 of the State Bank of India. It is said that letter of allotment was issued on 30.6.1997 and the Debentures - 2 - were redeemable after 18 months from the date of allotment i.e. on 30.12.1998 at Rs.1321/- per Debenture meaning thereby that the maturity value would be Rs.13,210/- . It has been alleged that the accused Company had paid by letter dated 13.8.1999 30% of the Principal and interest for the period 17.1.1997 to 28.6.1997 and had failed to pay the balance amount. Reminders with request for payment of the balance amount allegedly met with no response. On the aforesaid premise it was alleged that the accused persons had entered into a conspiracy to misappropriate the legitimate money of the complainant and had thereby not only cheated him but had also committed breach of trust. So far as the petitioner herein is concerned he has been referred to as the trustee of the Issue. It is apparent from perusal of the complaint petition, the statement of the complainant on S.A. and the deposition of his wife as C.W.1, copies whereof have appended as Annexures 1, 2 and 2/A respectively with the application, that no allegation of any overt act has been made against the petitioner in his capacity as the Chairman of the ICICI Bank Ltd. and to the contrary, the allegations is fully directed against the Modern Denim Ltd. and its officials. Even if the ICICI Bank Ltd. was the trustee of the Issue, the petitioner could not be held liable for the non-payment of the balance dues as the ingredients of an offence under Section 406 I.P.C. do not appear to have been made out against the petitioner. The prosecution of the petitioner in the circumstances is an abuse of the process of the court. Accordingly, the impugned order so - 3 - far as the petitioner is concerned is hereby quashed and the application is allowed. ( Abhijit Sinha, J ) Patna High Court, Patna Dated :the 11th May,2009 Nawal Kishore Singh/A.F.R.