Court says earlier complaint by complainant’s wife, claiming gold was handed to the accused for sale, fatally undermined later allegation of theft from the house.
Bengaluru: The Karnataka High Court has quashed a criminal case registered against a man accused of stealing gold ornaments from a complainant’s house, holding that the prosecution was built on mutually contradictory versions and mere suspicion.
Justice Suraj Govindaraj, hearing Criminal Petition No. 111 of 2025, allowed the petition filed by Suresh @ Suresh Naik K and set aside Crime No. 138/2024 registered by Basavanagudi Police Station under Section 305 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023.
According to the complaint, the petitioner’s mother had worked as a domestic servant in the respondent’s house until 2021. The complainant alleged that the petitioner occasionally visited the house and, being aware of where gold articles were kept, had stolen them. However, the court found that the complaint did not even specify the date of the alleged theft and relied largely on suspicion.
A key factor in the court’s decision was an earlier complaint lodged by the complainant’s wife on 29 September 2023. In that complaint, she had stated that around 450 to 480 grams of gold ornaments and 50 grams of gold coins were handed over to the petitioner for sale, and that neither the gold nor the sale proceeds were returned. The High Court noted that this earlier version directly conflicted with the later allegation that the same petitioner had stolen gold from the house.
The court observed that the two complaints, read together, were fundamentally inconsistent and that the prosecution had offered no explanation for the contradiction. It held that the later accusation could not be sustained in isolation when the record already contained a materially different explanation for the petitioner’s possession of the gold.
While acknowledging that FIR allegations are ordinarily not examined like trial evidence, the court said it must intervene where the record shows absence of a prima facie factual foundation and where criminal proceedings appear to be an abuse of process.
Concluding that continuation of the case would serve no useful purpose, the High Court quashed the proceedings against the petitioner.
Bottom Line :
Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 - Petition for quashing of FIR alleging theft of gold articles - Where earlier complaint by complainant's wife stated that substantial quantity of gold ornaments and gold coins had been voluntarily handed over to petitioner for sale, subsequent complaint by husband alleging theft of gold from house by same petitioner was found fundamentally inconsistent - Mere suspicion based on access to house and knowledge of place where articles were kept, without specifying date of theft and in face of mutually contradictory versions, held insufficient to sustain criminal prosecution - Continuation of proceedings held to be abuse of process of law.
Statutory provision(s): Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 Section 305, Criminal Procedure Code, 1973 Section 482, Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 Section 528
Sri Suresh @ Suresh Naik K v. State of Karnataka, (Karnataka) : Law Finder Doc id # 2987658
