Neutral Citation No. - 2025:AHC:78671-DB Court No. - 44 Case :- CRIMINAL MISC. WRIT PETITION No. - 12682 of 2024 Petitioner :- Aispra Hospitality Private Limited And Another Respondent :- State Of U.P. And 3 Others Counsel for Petitioner :- Nitin Chandra Mishra Counsel for Respondent :- Avnish Kumar Srivastava,G.A.Mohammad Anas Raza,Shabista Parveen Hon'ble Siddhartha Varma,J. Hon'ble Madan Pal Singh,J. 1. When a first information report was lodged by respondent Beena Gupta against the petitioner no.2 claiming that the accused had allegedly defrauded the informant for an amount of Rs.1,68,31,276/-, the petitioners had approached this Court by means of the instant writ petition. Since, the dispute appeared to be of a commercial nature, the High Court had referred the matter to the Mediation Centre of this Court, vide order dated 21.08.2024. The order dated 02.08.2024 had preceded the order dated 21.08.2024 and by the order dated 02.08.2024, the petitioner was required to deposit Rs.50,00,000/- in favour of the Registrar General of the Allahabad High Court. It has been informed by the learned counsel for the petitioners that in compliance of order dated 02.08.2024, the amount had been deposited by the petitioners by means of a demand draft in favour of the Registrar General of this Court. Thereafter, the High Court vide order dated 21.08.2024 referred the matter to the mediation centre and on 19.10.2024, an interim settlement agreement was entered into between the parties. Paragraph no.7 of the interim settlement dated 19.10.2024 is being reproduced hereunder:- "The following settlement has been arrived at between the Parties hereto:- a) That now the parties have amicably settled their dispute on the conditions that petitioners shall pay an amount of Rs.1,42,00,000/- (Rupees One Crore Forty Two Lakh only) to the Respondent No.4 by way demand drafts in three installments. b) That today i.e. 19.10.2024, the petitioners have handed over a Demand Draft bearing nos. 331693 dated 18.10.2024 for Rs.25,00,000/- (Rupees Twenty Five Lakh only) drawn on Union Bank of India issued in the name of Bhavesh Gupta, who is son of Beena Gupta (Respondent No. 4) as it has been desired by her that all the payments in respect of the present dispute be made by the petitioners in the name of her son and both Beena Gupta (Respondent No. 4) & Bhavesh Gupta have acknowledged the receipt of the same. c) That it has been agreed between the parties that rest amount of Rs.1,17,00,000/- (Rupees One Crore Seventeen Lakh only) will be paid by petitioners to Respondent No. 4 in two equal installements to be decided on the next date fixed i.e. 21.12.2024. d) That it has been agreed between the parties that the cases filed by them against each other will be kept in abeyance during this intervening period. e) That this settlement had been read over and explained to the parties in Hindi in presence of their respective counsels, thereafter, they have signed the settlement. f) That it has been agreed between the parties that they shall appear again before the Centre on 21.12.2024."' 2. By this interim settlement till 19.10.2024, the petitioners had to hand over a sum of Rs.25 lacs to Bhavesh Gupta, the son of the respondent no.4. It was also provided in the interim settlement that all other payments had to be made in favour of the son of the respondent no.4. It was still further agreed on that till 19.10.2024 the remaining amount of Rs.1,17,00,000/- would be paid by the petitioners to the respondent no.4 in two equal installments. Thereafter, the parties met at the mediation centre on 22.03.2025 and the final settlement was arrived at between the parties. The term of the settlement of the final settlment dated 22.03.2025 are contained in paragraph No.-7 and therefore the same is being reproduced hereunder:- "In view of the Interim Settlement Agreements dated 19.10.2024 and 05.01.2025, the following settlement has been arrived at between the Parties hereto: a) That the Interim Settlement Agreements dated 19.10.2024 and 05.01.2025 shall form a part of this settlement and read together. b) That now the parties have amicably settled their dispute on the conditions that petitioners shall pay an amount of Rs.1,42,00,000/- (Rupees One Crore Forty Two Lakh only) to the Respondent No.4 by way of demand drafts in three installements and as desired by Respondent No.4-Beena Gupta, all the payments shall be made by the Petitioners through demand draft drawn in favour of her son namely, Sri Bhavesh Gupta (non-party and signing this settlement as witness). c) That both the parties agree that the aforesaid amount i.e. Rs.1,42,00,000/- (Rupees One Crore Forty Two Lakh only) includes the amount of Rs.50,00,000/- (Rupees Fifty Lakh only) deposited with the Registrar General, High Court, Allahabad in compliance of the referral order dated 21.08.2024 of the Hon'ble Court, which is subject to the further orders of the Hon'ble Court, as such the petitioners shall pay Rs.92,00,000/- (Rupees Ninety Two Lakh only) to the Respondent No. 4-Beena Gupta. Out of aforesaid agreed amount, Rs.4,00,000/- (Rupees Four Lakh only) has already been paid by the petitioners to the Respondent No. 4-Beena Gupta and the Respondent No. 4-Beena Gupta has acknowledged the receipt of the same. d) That on 19.10.2024, the petitioners have handed over a Demand Draft to Bhavesh Gupta (Son of Respondent No. 4), bearing D.D. nos. 331693 dated 18.10.2024 for Rs.25,00,000/- (Rupees Twenty Five Lakh only) drawn on Union Bank of India issued in the name of Bhavesh Gupta, for which Respondent No.4 and Sri Bhavesh Gupta have acknowledged the receipt. e) That on 05.01.2025, the petitioners have handed over another Demand Draft to Bhavesh Gupta (Son of Respondent No. 4), bearing D.D. nos. 331660 dated 04.01.2025 for Rs.32,00,000/- (Rupees Thirty Two Lakh only) drawn on Union Bank of India issued in the name of Bhavesh Gupta, for which Respondent No. 4 and Sri Bhavesh Gupta have acknowledged the receipt. f) That today i.e. 22.03.2025, the petitioners have handed over another demand draft of remaining amount of Rs.31,00,000/- (Rupees Thirty One Lakh only) to Bhavesh Gupta (Son of Respondent No. 4), bearing D.D. no. 331711 dated 21.03.2025 drawn on Union Bank of India issued in the name of Bhavesh Gupta, for which Respondent No. 4 and Sri Bhavesh Gupta have acknowledged the receipt. g) That it has also been agreed between the parties that all civil and criminal cases filed by them against each other regarding present dispute shall be withdrawn by the parties concerned by taking appropriate steps before the Court/authority concerned. h) That the parties will not file any fresh case against each other in respect of this dispute. They have no claim against each other in future also." 3. Ultimately, the entire amount of Rs.1,42,00,000/- (as was agreed to be paid by the petitioners to the respondent no.4) was paid in the presence of the mediator. Under such circumstances, the entire amount as was agreed to be paid by the petitioner to the respondent no.4 has now been paid off. 4. The amount which had been deposited before the Registrar General of this Court be now also released in favour of the respondent no.4. It is made clear that the interest which might have accrued on the fixed deposit in which the high court had deposited the amount be also handed over to the respondent no.4. 5. With the above settlement now, therefore, no useful purpose would be served in continuing with the investigation in pursuance of the first information report lodged on 02.07.2024. 6. Under such circumstances, the first information report dated 02.07.2024, registered as Case Crime No. 0271 of 2024, under Sections 409, 420, 504, 506 IPC, P.S. Bhelupur Commissionerate, Varanasi is hereby quashed. 7. This order is passed in presence of Mr. Nitin Chandra Mishra, learned counsel for the petitioners and Ms. Sahista Parveen, learned counsel for the respondent no.4 . 8. The writ petition stands allowed. Order Date :- 14.5.2025 Neeraj (Madan Pal Singh, J.) (Siddhartha Varma, J.) Digitally signed by :- NEERAJ KUMAR SINGH High Court of Judicature at Allahabad