Nagpur: The Nagpur Bench of the Bombay High Court has quashed an FIR filed at Bajaj Nagar Police Station against Gopal Krishna Banka and four other members of his family from Kolkata in a case of alleged cheating and breach of trust.
A division bench comprising Justice Urmila Joshi-Phalke and Justice Nandesh S. Deshpande set aside the FIR and the related chargesheet dated December 23, 2023. The case had been pending before the 8th Joint Civil Judge (Junior Division) and JMFC, Nagpur. The FIR had invoked multiple sections of the Indian Penal Code, including 420, 403, 406, 409, 417, and 120-B read with Section 34.
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24 Oct 2025
The applicants are directors of Banka Bullions and G.K. Trexim, both Kolkata-based firms engaged in the gold trade. The complaint had been filed by Nagpur businessman Ashutosh Natwar Mundada, who alleged that he paid ₹4.31 crore between November 12 and December 5, 2016, to the accused for the purchase of gold but never received the delivery.
The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Nagpur Police investigated the case. The applicants maintained that they had supplied the gold to Mundada’s proprietorship concern and that the FIR was filed with malicious intent. They also cited their inability to appear personally before the police due to COVID-19 restrictions.
After examining the case, the High Court observed that even if the allegations were taken at face value, they did not constitute a prima facie criminal offence. The court concluded that the proceedings were malicious and amounted to an abuse of the legal process.
Senior Counsel Sunil Manohar, assisted by Advocate Masood Shareef, represented the applicants, while APP Nikhil Joshi (EOW) and Advocate Amit Prasad appeared for the respondents.
