Cheating Case: Kerala HC Dismisses UDF MLA Mani C Kappan

The Kerala High Court has dismissed Congress-led UDF MLA Mani C Kappan’s plea challenging a special court order that framed charges against him for cheating and criminal breach of trust.

A single bench of Justice C S Dias stated that, based on the facts, submissions, materials on record, and applicable legal provisions, there was no “illegality, impropriety or irregularity” in the special court’s order.

“The revision petition is devoid of any merits and is only liable to be dismissed in limine. Resultantly, the revision petition is dismissed,” the High Court ruled.

Kappan, in his revision plea, argued that the special court did not apply its mind before framing the charges as it did not provide any reasons in its order. He also claimed he was not given an opportunity to file an application for discharge by the special court.

The High Court noted that Kappan had initially challenged the proceedings in the special court, but his plea was dismissed by both the High Court and later the Supreme Court. Afterward, the complainant’s witnesses were examined, but Kappan did not cross-examine them.

“Yet, the petitioner (Kappan) did not file any application for discharge,” the High Court observed, rejecting his claims. “A reading of the impugned order would show that the Magistrate has applied his mind and arrived at a conclusion that there are grounds to presume that the accused has committed the above offences. Accordingly, the court below deemed it fit to frame charges against the revision petitioner (Kappan),” the High Court added.

The allegation against Kappan is that he borrowed Rs 2 crore from the complainant in 2010, but only repaid Rs 25 lakh. In 2013, he entered into an agreement with the complainant to repay Rs 3.25 crore in installments. Kappan issued post-dated cheques for the repayment and created a charge over his property, extending to 40.15 acres, in favor of the complainant.

However, the cheques were dishonored, and the complainant discovered that the property was already offered as security to the Kottayam Co-operative Agricultural and Rural Development Bank. Consequently, the complainant filed a cheating case against Kappan.