The Bombay High Court has quashed an FIR against two directors of a luxury interior designing firm in a case of alleged criminal breach of trust following a settlement with the complainants.
A bench of Justices Ajey Gadkari and Neela Gokhale, however, imposed a cost of Rs1 lakh each on the directors Krish and Priya Kothari, to be deposited with the Central Police Welfare Fund of Maharashtra Police.
The HC was hearing a petition filed by Kotharis seeking quashing of the FIR against them for alleged criminal breach of trust under the Indian Penal Code.
In March, an FIR was lodged by the Dadar police station on complaint by Madhav and Ishita Agarwal stating that Kotharis of Beauvue Stiledivita Pvt Ltd signed a contract of Rs 20 crore to carry out interior design of their Worli flat. They alleged that Kotharis took them to Amsterdam and Milan to select Italian marbles and furniture, but used local material. The agreement between the parties was signed in April 2022.
The case was later transferred to the Mumbai police’s Economic Offences Wing (EOW).
Kotharis then informed the HC that they have settled the dispute with Agarwals and have signed consent terms for the same. During the hearing, Ashutosh Sharma, authorised signatory of Agarwals, said they had no objection to the quashing of the FIR and filed an affidavit to the effect.
The bench noted that “petitioners have undertaken that, through the Vendors, they will offer assistance and shall get replaced / rectified the goods (as per the Consent Terms) which are defective and complete the safe delivery of the goods… within a period of three months”.
