Inder Chand Bagri v. Jagadish Prasad Bagri 2025 INSC 1350 - IPC - Cheating - Breach Of Trust

Indian Penal Code 1860 - Section 415,420 -For establishing the offence of cheating, the complainant is required to show that the appellant-accused had a fraudulent or dishonest intention at the time of making a promise or representation of not fulfilling the partnership agreement. Such a culpable intention right at the beginning cannot be presumed but has to be made out with cogent facts.(Para 20)

Indian Penal Code 1860 - Section 405,406 - Every act of breach of trust may not result in a penal offence unless there is evidence of a manipulating act of fraudulent misappropriation of a property entrusted to him. In the case of criminal breach of trust, if a person comes into possession of the property and receives it legally, but illegally retains it or converts it to its own use against the terms of contract, then the question whether such retention is with dishonest intention or not and whether such retention involves criminal breach of trust or only civil liability would depend upon the facts and circumstances of the case. (Para 21)

Indian Penal Code 1860 - Section 405,406,415,420 -For cheating, criminal intention is necessary at the time of making false or misleading representation i.e. since inception. In criminal breach of trust, mere proof of entrustment is sufficient. Thus, in case of criminal breach of trust, the offender is lawfully entrusted with the property, and he dishonestly misappropriated the same. Whereas, in case of cheating, the offender fraudulently or dishonestly induces a person by deceiving him to deliver a property. In such a situation, both offences cannot co-exist simultaneously. Consequently, the complaint cannot contain both the offences that are independent and distinct. The said offences cannot coexist simultaneously in the same set of facts as they are antithetical to each other. (Para 23)

Code of Criminal Procedure 1973 - Section 482 -Criminal law ought not to become a platform for initiation of vindictive proceedings to settle personal scores and vendettas- Court must ensure that criminal prosecution is not used as an instrument of harassment or for seeking private vendetta or with an ulterior motive to pressurise the accused. (Para 24-25)