Gujarat High Court
Deepa Dhananjay Choksi vs State Of Gujarat on 2 December, 2025
NEUTRAL CITATION
R/CR.MA/22002/2025 ORDER DATED: 02/12/2025
undefined
IN THE HIGH COURT OF GUJARAT AT AHMEDABAD
R/CRIMINAL MISC.APPLICATION (FOR ANTICIPATORY BAIL) NO. 22002
of 2025
==========================================================
DEEPA DHANANJAY CHOKSI & ANR.
Versus
STATE OF GUJARAT
==========================================================
Appearance:
MR VIVEK V BHAMARE(6710) for the Applicant(s) No. 1,2
MR C B UPADHYAYA(3508) for the Respondent(s) No. 1
MR. SOAHAM JOSHI, APP for the Respondent(s) No. 1
==========================================================
CORAM:HONOURABLE MR.JUSTICE UTKARSH THAKORBHAI
DESAI
Date : 02/12/2025
ORAL ORDER
1. Here is a classic example of the Gujarati Proverb "jar jameen ne joru e trane kajiyana chhoru" which literally translates as wealth, land and women being the most common or ancient root causes of disputes or conflicts.
2. The applicants who are apprehending arrest at the hands of Gotri Police, District Vadodara, have preferred this anticipatory bail application under section 482 of the BNSS, 2023 in connection with the FIR being Part A C.R. No. I- 25 of 2019 which came to be registered under Sections 406, 409, 420, 447, 465, 467, 468, 471 and 120 B of the IPC. The said FIR is the outcome of Page 1 of 11 Uploaded by ANIRUDH OJHA(HC02370) on Fri Dec 19 2025 Downloaded on : Sat Dec 20 00:14:08 IST 2025 NEUTRAL CITATION R/CR.MA/22002/2025 ORDER DATED: 02/12/2025 undefined dispute between real brothers in pertaining to immovable property.
3. The FIR, which came to be lodged by one Ramakant Ambalal Choksi, states that his parents, Ambalal Chaturbhai Choksi and Manjulaben Ambalal Choksi, have died. He has three brothers and three sisters. He had given an application before the Police Commissioner of Vadodara City on 09.01.2019, whereby he had given his statement. As against the said application, he and his two brothers and their wives had approached the Gujarat High Court by way of Special Criminal Application No. 859/2019, wherein, the High Court had passed an order on 04.12.2019, directing the Gotri Police Station to register the FIR.
4. It is further mentioned that, the four brothers had purchased a property in Vadodara, bearing ground floor and first floor. Accordingly, the ground floor was purchased by the four brothers, whereas, the first floor was purchased in the hands of their wives by way of register sale deed. Accordingly, the four brothers and their wives, each, had 1/8 share in the said property. The original complainant has further mentioned that, since the Page 2 of 11 Uploaded by ANIRUDH OJHA(HC02370) on Fri Dec 19 2025 Downloaded on : Sat Dec 20 00:14:08 IST 2025 NEUTRAL CITATION R/CR.MA/22002/2025 ORDER DATED: 02/12/2025 undefined property purchased was old, they had decided to rebuild the same and a power of attorney was given to one of the brothers, namely Harish Ambalalal Choksi, for the purpose of putting up new construction. It is mentioned that, the said instrument of power of attorney did not mention about any other tasks to be undertaken by the power of attorney holder, and it was restricted only to the aspect as regards the new construction that was planned to be put up.
5. It is stated in the FIR that the original complainant's wife, Ilaben, had received a notice under Section 135 D of the Bombay Land Revenue Code 1879, pursuant to which, upon inquiry, she came to know that the said property, was sold off by their brother Harish Ambalal Choksi by way of registered sale deed for the sale price of Rs. 1,70,00,000/-, though he was not given the power to sell the said property. The present applicants were signatories in the said sale deed as witnesses. Thus, the FIR came to be registered against Harishbhai, his two sons Dhananjay and Mitesh and Dhananjay's wife Deepa.
6. Heard learned advocate Mr. Hriday Buch appearing for learned advocate Mr. Vivek V. Bhamare for the applicants, who Page 3 of 11 Uploaded by ANIRUDH OJHA(HC02370) on Fri Dec 19 2025 Downloaded on : Sat Dec 20 00:14:08 IST 2025 NEUTRAL CITATION R/CR.MA/22002/2025 ORDER DATED: 02/12/2025 undefined has submitted that the applicants and the other co-accused are not on the same page. The case is based upon documentary evidence, which has already been collected by the I.O. Hence, the custodial interrogation of the applicants is not necessary. According to Mr. Buch, both the applicants had correctly identified the persons who had signed the sale deed, hence, it is not a case where the applicants had wrongly or falsely identified the said persons. The applicants and the complainant are members of the same family. There is a civil suit pending between the parties. Since the applicants were only witnesses in the sale deed which came to registered, the provisions of Sections 409 and 467 of IPC would not be attracted. Hence, this application should be allowed and the applicants be granted anticipatory bail.
7. Heard learned APP Mr. Soaham Joshi for the respondent No. 1-State, who has strongly opposed the bail application, stating that both the applicants have played active roles in the commission of the crime, and the Court should not show any leniency towards the applicants and more particularly towards applicant no. 1 on the ground of she being a woman. The Page 4 of 11 Uploaded by ANIRUDH OJHA(HC02370) on Fri Dec 19 2025 Downloaded on : Sat Dec 20 00:14:08 IST 2025 NEUTRAL CITATION R/CR.MA/22002/2025 ORDER DATED: 02/12/2025 undefined applicants have breached the trust of their own family members, and hence, this application should be rejected.
8. Heard learned advocate Mr. C. B. Upadhyaya for the original complainant, who has reiterated the averments of the objections filed by the original complainant and also the additional affidavit filed by him. According to Mr. Upadhyay, the property was joint in nature and was owned by four brothers and their wives. The accused Harishbhai had transferred the said property to his son Dhananjay by way of registered sale deed, wherein, the present applicants had signed as witnesses, in spite of, they being aware about Harishbhai not having the power of attorney to sell the property. There was a civil suit pending, wherein, injunction was also granted.
8.1 Mr. Upadhyaya has also drawn the attention of the Court to the fact that, it was only after the intervention of the High Court by way of an order passed in Special Criminal Application No. 859/2019, that, the FIR came to be registered against the accused. Mr. Upadhyaya has also submitted that, though a case is being made out by the applicants stating that, they had only affixed their signatures in the sale deed as witnesses, and they Page 5 of 11 Uploaded by ANIRUDH OJHA(HC02370) on Fri Dec 19 2025 Downloaded on : Sat Dec 20 00:14:08 IST 2025 NEUTRAL CITATION R/CR.MA/22002/2025 ORDER DATED: 02/12/2025 undefined had correctly identified the persons, they were hand in glove with the main accused Harishbhai, and were well aware that Harishbhai was executing the sale deed in favour of his son, i.e. co-accused Dhananjay. Thus, Mr. Upadhyaya has submitted that, the Court should not exercise discretion in favour of the applicants and the application should be rejected.
9. At the outset, the sale deed in question came to be executed by Harish Ambalal Choksi in his personal capacity as well as power of attorney holder for his three brothers, their wives and his wife, as well. The property was transferred in favour of his own son, Dhananjay Harish Choksi, wherein applicant no. 1, Deepa Dhananjay Choksi, being wife of Dhananjay, the purchaser of the property, and son of Harish, and applicant no. 2, Mitesh, being the other son of Harish. It is pertinent to observe that, the instrument of power of attorney was prepared by one Harish R. Pareek, an advocate by profession who was known to the Choksi family for 30 years. He had affirmed on oath by way of affidavit dated 12.03.2019, that the instrument of power of attorney dated 16.04.1995 was only for the purpose and object of development and construction of the Page 6 of 11 Uploaded by ANIRUDH OJHA(HC02370) on Fri Dec 19 2025 Downloaded on : Sat Dec 20 00:14:08 IST 2025 NEUTRAL CITATION R/CR.MA/22002/2025 ORDER DATED: 02/12/2025 undefined building, which, upon completion of construction, would not remain in force anymore. He had also mentioned in his affidavit that, the said instrument was purely for internal administrative and procedural matters, concerning the course and action of development and construction of building and no more. Thus, prima facie, it is evident that Harish had misused this instrument of power of attorney by executing the registered sale deed in favour of his own son, wherein, the present applicants had stood as witnesses.
10. This Court is not in agreement with the submission of learned advocate Mr. Buch that, the applicants had merely stood as witnesses, and had correctly identified the seller Mr. Harish Choksi and buyer Dhananjay Choksi, since both of them, being the wife of Dhananjay Choksi and son of Harish Choksi respectively. Though being conversant with the fact that, the said property belonged to four brothers and their wives, and the instrument of power of attorney not being given by the other three brothers and their wives to execute sale transaction of the said property, accepting the argument that the applicants had only stood as witnesses in the sale deed, would be like turning a Page 7 of 11 Uploaded by ANIRUDH OJHA(HC02370) on Fri Dec 19 2025 Downloaded on : Sat Dec 20 00:14:08 IST 2025 NEUTRAL CITATION R/CR.MA/22002/2025 ORDER DATED: 02/12/2025 undefined blind eye towards their misdeeds. In fact, by their very said act, they had displayed their covert affirmation for the wrong done by accused Harish and Dhananjay.
11. This Court is not only bemused, but also, shocked to notice the brazen exercise undertaken by all the accused to deprive the legal rights of other co-owners of the property in question.
12. This court cannot be oblivious of the fact that, it was only after the oral order passed by the High Court of Gujarat in Special Criminal Application No. 859/2019 on 04.02.2019, that the FIR came to be registered on 13.02.2019. It also transpires that, a criminal inquiry was filed by the original complainant by way of Criminal Inquiry No. 147 of 2020 before the learned ACJM of Vadodara, wherein, the learned ACJM had passed an order below exhibit 1, that the I.O. had collected the original case papers, hence no more inquiry was required as regards the summary which was submitted. The ACJM had also further ordered that if, after further investigation, the police would file any report under Section 173, the further proceedings would be conducted in the light of same, and accordingly, the inquiry was disposed of. The accused of the present FIR had challenged the said order by way Page 8 of 11 Uploaded by ANIRUDH OJHA(HC02370) on Fri Dec 19 2025 Downloaded on : Sat Dec 20 00:14:08 IST 2025 NEUTRAL CITATION R/CR.MA/22002/2025 ORDER DATED: 02/12/2025 undefined of Criminal Revision Application No. 184 of 2022 before the 8 th Additional Session Judge of Vadodara, who was pleased to reject the said revision application vide order dated 21.06.2024.
13. The order of the High Court of Gujarat, passed in Special Criminal Application No. 859/2019 dated 20.03.2019, was challenged by the accused before the Hon'ble Supreme Court by way of Petition(s) for Special Leave to Appeal (Crl.) No(s). 5805- 5806/2019. However, the Hon'ble Supreme Court did not find any merits in the said Special Leave Petitions and had dismissed the same.
14. Further, the Second Additional Senior Civil Judge of Vadodara had granted injunction in favour of the original complainant and his other two brothers in Special Civil Suit No. 54/2019, whereby, the defendant no. 3 in the said suit, i.e., Harish Choksi, was prevented from entering into any transactions, as regards the suit property. The said Harish Choksi had challenged the order of the Civil Court by way of Appeal From Order No. 86 of 2022 with Civil Application (For Stay) No. 1 of 2022 in Appeal From Order No. 86 of 2022 before the High Court of Gujarat, which was pleased to allow the said appeal from order, and quash Page 9 of 11 Uploaded by ANIRUDH OJHA(HC02370) on Fri Dec 19 2025 Downloaded on : Sat Dec 20 00:14:08 IST 2025 NEUTRAL CITATION R/CR.MA/22002/2025 ORDER DATED: 02/12/2025 undefined and set aside the order of the trial court passed below application exhibit 5 in the said civil suit. Thereafter, the impugned order of the High Court was challenged before the Supreme Court of India by way of Civil Appeal No. 13001 of 2024 (@ Special Leave Petition (Civil) No. 252 of 2023. The Hon'ble Apex Court vide order dated 22.11.2024 was pleased to allow the appeal and set aside the impugned order passed by the High Court of Gujarat, and direct the respondents to maintain status quo and also not create any further encumbrances over the same, in any manner.
15. The accused persons, thereafter, had preferred Special Criminal Application (Direction) No. 13978 of 2025 and Special Criminal Application (Direction) No. 14005 of 2025 before the High Court of Gujarat, which were withdrawn by them.
16. Thus, it is not only prima facie emerging from the facts of the case, but also, in a loud and clear manner that all the accused, including the present applicants, had not left any stone unturned to frustrate and defeat the original complainant, as well as the other two brothers and their families, from seeking valid and Page 10 of 11 Uploaded by ANIRUDH OJHA(HC02370) on Fri Dec 19 2025 Downloaded on : Sat Dec 20 00:14:08 IST 2025 NEUTRAL CITATION R/CR.MA/22002/2025 ORDER DATED: 02/12/2025 undefined legal redressal of the dispute in view of the sale deed, which was illegally executed by accused Harish in favour of his son, the accused Dhananjay. To say that the present applicants were mere witnesses and had no roles to play in the offence committed by Harish and Dhananjay, would be like rubbing salt into the wounds of original complainant and his other family members.
17. In view of aforesaid discussion, the present application being devoid of merits, is rejected and disposed of accordingly.
(UTKARSH THAKORBHAI DESAI, J) ANIRUDH OJHA Page 11 of 11 Uploaded by ANIRUDH OJHA(HC02370) on Fri Dec 19 2025 Downloaded on : Sat Dec 20 00:14:08 IST 2025