Construction Mirror Article detail

The criminal proceedings against Hero MotoCorp, its chairman Pawan Munjal, and other company employees in an alleged forgery case were halted by the Delhi High Court (HC) on Thursday. The FIR's operation would be halted, along with the trial court's ruling, according to Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma, until the next hearing date on December 6.

In response to a complaint stating that Hero MotoCorp produced bogus currency worth Rs 5.9 crore and received a tax credit of more than Rs 55 lakh, the trial court ordered the filing of a FIR against them.

The business, its chairman, and other representatives petitioned the high court to overturn the lower court's ruling. The top court ordered the parties to look into settlement options in the interim.

The trial court's order and the FIR's procedures would continue to be suspended, the high court ruled. The parties will look into potential areas of compromise. Counsel is required to follow orders regarding compromise.

Senior attorneys Mukul Rohatgi and Maninder Singh requested that the FIR and the trial court's September 20 ruling be quashed on behalf of Hero MotoCorp. They contended that there was no criminal activity going on because the complainant and the corporation were engaged in a civil conflict.

The complaint stated that the "criminal proceedings initiated in the case were wholly malafide and illegal and the company and its officials named in the FIR are getting harassed and facing threats of coercive actions besides being subjected to humiliation in front of various governmental and non-governmental agencies".

Roop Darshan Pandey, the promoter of Brains Logistics Pvt Ltd., filed a complaint, and the criminal case was subsequently opened on October 5, 2023, in accordance with the trial court's directive. The complainant named MotoCorp Limited, three of its employees (primary supervisor Pawan Munjal, representatives Vikram Sitaram Kasbekar and Hari Prakash Gupta, and an auditor), as well as the company.

Hero MotoCorp had previously released a statement claiming that the incident was old and that no officials were identified in the FIR. It claimed that the plaintiff was a service provider who had been wronged by Pandey.

According to the complaint, Hero Motocorp made fictitious debit balances against Brains Logistics in its books of accounts by fabricating month-by-month bills of Rs 5.9 crore in cooperation with Munjal and Kasbekar.

Sections 463 (forgery), 467 (forgery of valuable security, will), 468 (forgery for cheating purposes), 471 (using as genuine a forged document), 34 (common intention), 477A (falsification of accounts), 120B (punishment for criminal conspiracy), and 406 (punishment for criminal breach of trust) of the IPC were used to register the case on October 5 at Vasant Kunj North police station.