In Brief
Two businessmen were prosecuted for allegedly breaching criminal trust by retaining a Rs. One Crore development deposit from a 1993 property development agreement that never materialized due to legal restrictions on construction. The High Court rejected their petition to quash the FIR. The Supreme Court allowed the appeal, holding that (1) purely civil disputes cannot be prosecuted as crimes, (2) the deposit was not criminally misappropriated as its return was conditional on performance that never occurred, and (3) the prosecution was mala fide harassment using criminal law to avoid civil remedies. The FIR and charge sheet were quashed.
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