Gujarat High Court
Dinesh @ Dharmabhai @ Dharmaraj Babulal ... vs State Of Gujarat on 24 March, 2026
NEUTRAL CITATION
R/CR.MA/13055/2021 JUDGMENT DATED: 24/03/2026
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IN THE HIGH COURT OF GUJARAT AT AHMEDABAD
R/CRIMINAL MISC.APPLICATION (FOR QUASHING & SET ASIDE
FIR/ORDER) NO. 13055 of 2021
FOR APPROVAL AND SIGNATURE:
HONOURABLE MRS. JUSTICE M. K. THAKKER
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Approved for Reporting Yes No
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DINESH @ DHARMABHAI @ DHARMARAJ BABULAL JOSHI
Versus
STATE OF GUJARAT & ANR.
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Appearance:
LEARNED ADVOCATE MR SHRENIK SHAH FOR MR HARSH M
SURTI(3907) for the Applicant(s) No. 1
RONAK RAWAL, APP for the Respondent(s) No. 1
UNSERVED EXPIRED (R) for the Respondent(s) No. 2
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CORAM:HONOURABLE MRS. JUSTICE M. K. THAKKER
Date : 24/03/2026
JUDGMENT
1. The present application is filed for quashing of the FIR No.11196013210062 of 2021, registered with Sama Police Station, Vadodara City dated 04.03.2021, qua the present applicant, who is named as accused No.4, for the alleged offences under Sections 406, 420 and 114 of the Indian Penal Code.
2. On referring the FIR, which was lodged at the instance of respondent No.2 in isolation Ward Room No.7, SSG Hospital, Page 1 of 10 Uploaded by Vikramsinh Amarsinh(HCW0055) on Sat Apr 04 2026 Downloaded on : Fri Apr 10 23:10:54 IST 2026 NEUTRAL CITATION R/CR.MA/13055/2021 JUDGMENT DATED: 24/03/2026 undefined Vadodara, contending that he has one brother and one sister and the father, namely Narendrabhai Soni, who is a retired person and the mother is a homemaker and before 30 to 35 years, the father had taken a shop on rent from one Mahendrakumar and Brother, which was vacated in the year 2015 after taking the amount of Rs.11 lakhs from the original owner. In the year 2018, the family was in dire need of money and therefore, a loan was obtained from a finance company to the extent of Rs.7 lakhs, out of which Rs.3 lakhs had been deposited in HDFC Bank and the rest of the amount had been invested for a shop namely Shree Trading, at Vadodara in the month of December 2018, due to a financial crunch, an advertisement was published in the Sandesh newspaper to sell the house for the sale consideration of Rs.40 lakhs. However, as there were difficulties which were coming forth in selling of the house, the complainant had approached one Astrologer, namely, Hemant Joshi, after reading the advertisement in the newspaper. The said Hemant Joshi deceitfully cheated the father of the complainant and obtained Rs.35,000/- for performing black magic. 2.1 Again, another Astrologer namely, Swaraj Jyotish was Page 2 of 10 Uploaded by Vikramsinh Amarsinh(HCW0055) on Sat Apr 04 2026 Downloaded on : Fri Apr 10 23:10:54 IST 2026 NEUTRAL CITATION R/CR.MA/13055/2021 JUDGMENT DATED: 24/03/2026 undefined approached by the father, accused No.2 and on his instructions, the complainant dug two feet in the kitchen to reveal one copper pot filled with gold ornaments as well as one pot with full of bones. The copper pot was put in the cupboard and again, for performing black magic, Rs.13,50,000/- was demanded by accused No.2, for which a loan of Rs.15 lakhs was availed from another finance company, out of which Rs.8 lakhs were deposited towards the payment of earlier loans and the rest of the amount was handed over to accused No.1. In the month of April 2019, the complainant's family sold the house for an amount of Rs. 25 lakhs, out of which Rs.14 lakhs was given to accused No.2 to perform black magic in order to unearth secret treasure. Again, on reading a newspaper advertisement, accused No.3 was contacted and was given Rs.2 lakhs for performing rituals. 2.2 At the instance of accused No.2, the applicant, namely, Dinesh had visited the house and performed the rituals as well as witch-craft. Accused No.3 had demanded an amount of Rs. 7 lakhs on the phone for performing rituals, which was not given by the father of the complainant, who had contacted another Astrologer, who is accused No.5, for Rs.5,00,000/- who unveiled Page 3 of 10 Uploaded by Vikramsinh Amarsinh(HCW0055) on Sat Apr 04 2026 Downloaded on : Fri Apr 10 23:10:54 IST 2026 NEUTRAL CITATION R/CR.MA/13055/2021 JUDGMENT DATED: 24/03/2026 undefined some copper pots and silver ornaments which were sold at Zinzuwadia Brothers, Mandvi, out of which Rs.1,50,000/- was obtained by the complainant. Thereafter, the father of the complainant went to Pushkar in Rajasthan, where he met another Jyotish and had given Rs.4 lakhs for performing rituals, who expired subsequently. Again, the father of the complainant approached accused No.6 and gave Rs.3,50,000/- in the year 2020 for performing black magic. Subsequently, he contacted accused No.7, who collected Rs.4,50,000/- as well as accused No.8, who dug two feet in the house for some articles. Because of the deceitful, fraudulent cheating by all the Astrologers and Tantriks, the family of the complainant faced a financial crisis and eventually decided to commit suicide on 03.03.2021 by consuming poison. The complainant lost three family members and the remaining members were shifted for treatment to C.T. Hospital, Vadodara;
3. Heard the learned advocate Mr. Shrenik Shah for learned advocate Mr. H. M. Surti for the applicant and learned APP Mr. Rawal for the State.
4. Learned advocate Mr. Shah for the applicant submitted that Page 4 of 10 Uploaded by Vikramsinh Amarsinh(HCW0055) on Sat Apr 04 2026 Downloaded on : Fri Apr 10 23:10:54 IST 2026 NEUTRAL CITATION R/CR.MA/13055/2021 JUDGMENT DATED: 24/03/2026 undefined during the pendency of the proceeding, the complainant passed away and the trial qua accused Nos.3 and 5, where the applicant had visited the house, resulted into acquittal. It is submitted that a bare reading of the FIR does not disclose any cognizable offence against the present applicant which suggests the ingredients of Section 420, 406 and 114 of the IPC. It is further submitted that the complainant had settled the dispute with the remaining accused and on the basis of the settlement, the judgment of acquittal was rendered by the learned Trial Court. It is submitted that in view of the judgment of the learned Trial Court, the continuation of the proceedings against the present applicant would be nothing but a gross abuse of the process of law. In that background, the impugned FIR deserves to be quashed and set aside and the present application is required to be allowed.
5. Per contra, learned APP Mr. Rawal appearing for the State has submitted that due to interim protection granted by the Court, the investigation qua the applicant has not been concluded. Learned APP Mr. Rawal is not able to dispute the settlement on the basis of which the judgment of acquittal was Page 5 of 10 Uploaded by Vikramsinh Amarsinh(HCW0055) on Sat Apr 04 2026 Downloaded on : Fri Apr 10 23:10:54 IST 2026 NEUTRAL CITATION R/CR.MA/13055/2021 JUDGMENT DATED: 24/03/2026 undefined passed qua the remaining accused.
6. Considering the submissions made by the learned advocates for the respective parties as well as the judgment of acquittal qua the remaining accused, which was on the basis of the settlement arrived at between the complainant and the remaining accused, the role described by the complainant in the FIR against the present applicant was to the extent of performing black magic at the instance of accused No.3 as well as accused No.5, both the accused were acquitted by the learned Trial Court.
6.1 On referring to the ingredients of Section 406, which requires;
(i) entrusting any property or with any dominion over property;
(ii) the person entrusted dishonestly misappropriates or converts to his own use of that property, it is missing. 6.2 To attract Section 420, the requirements under Section 415 are that;
(i) there must be deception;
(ii) by said deception, the accused must have induced the Page 6 of 10 Uploaded by Vikramsinh Amarsinh(HCW0055) on Sat Apr 04 2026 Downloaded on : Fri Apr 10 23:10:54 IST 2026 NEUTRAL CITATION R/CR.MA/13055/2021 JUDGMENT DATED: 24/03/2026 undefined person to deliver of property or to make, alter, or destroy the whole or any part of a valuable property;
(iii) the accused did so dishonestly, is also not satisfied; 6.3 On perusing the judgment of the learned Trial Court acquitting the rest of the accused and the allegations as discussed hereinabove made against the present applicant, in the considered opinion of this Court, the power under Section 482 requires to be exercised to prevent the abuse of the process of the Court as well as to secure the ends of justice; 6.4 This Court has also referred to the decision rendered by the Hon'ble Apex Court in the case of State of Haryana v. Bhajan Lal, reported in 1992 Supp (1) SCC 335, wherein following criteria is mentioned;
"In the backdrop of the interpretation of the various relevant provisions of the Code under Chapter XIV and of the principles of law enunciated by this Court in a series of decisions relating to the exercise of the extraordinary power under Article 226 or the inherent powers under Section 482 of the Code which we have extracted and reproduced above, we have given the following categories of cases by way of illustration wherein such power could be exercised either to Page 7 of 10 Uploaded by Vikramsinh Amarsinh(HCW0055) on Sat Apr 04 2026 Downloaded on : Fri Apr 10 23:10:54 IST 2026 NEUTRAL CITATION R/CR.MA/13055/2021 JUDGMENT DATED: 24/03/2026 undefined prevent abuse of the process of any court or otherwise to secure the ends of justice, though it may not be possible to lay down any precise, clearly defined and sufficiently channelised and inflexible guidelines or rigid formulae and to give an exhaustive list of myriad kinds of cases wherein such power should be exercised.
(1) Where the allegations made in the first information report or the complaint, even if they are taken at their face value and accepted in their entirety do not prima facie constitute any offence or make out a case against the accused.
(2) Where the allegations in the first information report and other materials, if any, accompanying the FIR do not disclose a cognizable offence, justifying an investigation by police officers under Section 156(1) of the Code except under an order of a Magistrate within the purview of Section 155(2) of the Code.
(3) Where the uncontroverted allegations made in the FIR or complaint and the evidence collected in support of the same do not disclose the commission of any offence and make out a case against the accused.
(4) Where, the allegations in the FIR do not constitute a Page 8 of 10 Uploaded by Vikramsinh Amarsinh(HCW0055) on Sat Apr 04 2026 Downloaded on : Fri Apr 10 23:10:54 IST 2026 NEUTRAL CITATION R/CR.MA/13055/2021 JUDGMENT DATED: 24/03/2026 undefined cognizable offence but constitute only a non-cognizable offence, no investigation is permitted by a police officer without an order of a Magistrate as contemplated under Section 155(2) of the Code.
(5) Where the allegations made in the FIR or complaint are so absurd and inherently improbable on the basis of which no prudent person can ever reach a just conclusion that there is sufficient ground for proceeding against the accused.
(6) Where there is an express legal bar engrafted in any of the provisions of the Code or the concerned Act (under which a criminal proceeding is instituted) to the institution and continuance of the proceedings and/or where there is a specific provision in the Code or the concerned Act, providing efficacious redress for the grievance of the aggrieved party.
(7) Where a criminal proceeding is manifestly attended with mala fide and/or where the proceeding is maliciously instituted with an ulterior motive for wreaking vengeance on the accused and with a view to spite him due to private and personal grudge."
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NEUTRAL CITATION R/CR.MA/13055/2021 JUDGMENT DATED: 24/03/2026 undefined 6.5 Considering the overall circumstances, the impugned FIR is nothing but harassment and therefore, the same deserves to be quashed and set aside.
7. Resultantly, the present application is allowed. FIR No.11196013210062 of 2021, registered with Sama Police Station, Vadodara City, dated 04.03.2021 is hereby quashed and set aside.
(M. K. THAKKER,J) Vikramsinh Amarsinh Page 10 of 10 Uploaded by Vikramsinh Amarsinh(HCW0055) on Sat Apr 04 2026 Downloaded on : Fri Apr 10 23:10:54 IST 2026