I had a large portion of my wealth swindled by the accused. The accused is my own father.
In the mid 1990s I was working abroad. When I was there, the accused requested a substantial sum of money for running his business. I sent him a huge portion of my savings to him with the promise (in the form of his letters) that he will repay my money back. Here are the actual fragment‘s.
“The amount sent by you is always due to you. If I am blessed with good health for some more years I will, however fulfill my responsibility.”
“This amount can be credited into your account and returned to you within 18 months”
Then I permanently came back and settled down in India. After coming here, I asked for my money back, for which the accused refused to repay me. His excuse was that I was only sending him money that he had spent for my education, marriage, etc. When he was borrowing the money from me, he had clearly stated in his letter to me how much I owe him – There is no borrowing by you !!!
“You have felt the responsibility of your Parents and family and co-operated so much for which we are highly indebted to thank you. We won’t forget your timely assistances. I have credited the amount into the account filed in my heart. As a good performing son, we might have spent something for your betterment and education as well, but it is all within the limitation of our duty and responsibility. There is no borrowing by you from our side, as such.”
Anyhow, I tried obtaining my money back through mediator’s, etc for more than a year. And in 2005, the accused sold his property for more than Rs 1 crore. I and my mediators requested for my money back from the accused. Instead of first paying back his dues, the accused doled out money to my brother-in-law (whose specialities are selling off my sister’s jewel, running a CHOP SHOP and frequently get bailed out from Police Lock up, etc), a Rs 10 Lakh to my brother (who has cursed my father as far back as I could remember. And I am only 2 years younger to my brother), etc.
Enraged by the accused’s attitude, I filed an FIR against him under section 406 (breach of trust) in 2005 with the fond hope that some justice will now be rendered.
However things have gone from bad to worse for me. The court is progressing at snail’s pace. There is only 1 actual hearing out of every 20 planned hearings. For the past 9 months or so, the Defense was set to argue. 9 freaking months – and still nothing have got done. Now the judge has been transferred (2nd time this is happening now) and the interim judge now wants the public prosecutor to argue once again. I have constantly gone to court every single hearing (except for 1 hearing in Sep 2008), but it has been a waste of time for me. Since my lawyers, the Public Prosecutor, etc are all well known to the accused, I somehow sense that nobody wants to complete this case.
I had pointed out to the Public Prosecutor that when he argues the next time, that he should request the court to impose a fine (equal to my amount entrusted with the accused) on the accused under Section 357 (3) shown below.
Section 357 (3) of CrPC say, “When a court imposes a sentence, of which fine does not form a part, the court may, when passing judgment, order the accused person to pay, by way of compensation, such amount as may be specified in the order to the person who has suffered any loss or injury by reason of the act for which the accused person has been so sentenced.”
But the PP gave me a lame duck excuse stating that the accused will appeal in higher court if he uses section 357 in his argument. Does anything stop the accused from re-appealing at a higher court even if the section 357 argument was not included? This did not make any sense to me at all. Instantly I realised that nobody really wants me to win this case. For a simple case involving only 3 witnesses, this case is now dragging into the 7th year with no judgement in sight.
In the meantime, I have been having a very bad time. My investment of 6000 shares in Satyam went from a value of Rs 11 Lakh to Rs 1.2 Lakh on Jan 7, 2009 because of scamster Ramalinga Raju. And very recently a 30 year old friend of mine, swindled my last remaining lakh of rupees. I have probably 6 to a max of 12 months that I could last. Without money, it is very difficult to run a business.
So in short, God’s prize for me for being a kind and generous person is that I should now become a beggar. I don’t think I can take this beating any more. In fact I think I am better off just finishing myself off once and for all. It is all because of people’s greed in general and our court’s ineptness. And what about the fate of my 5 year old child when I am gone for such a silly reason?
Anyway, if you all are wondering why the accused did not repay me back…….
Firstly, the accused wanted me to work in an MNC company so that I can continue to keep giving him more money so that he could buy, a car, land etc. But I did not want to work for somebody else. I wanted to WORK FOR MYSELF. As soon the accused realized that I wasn't going to be his golden goose, he used the money I had placed in his trust to blackmail me into submission. But I I did not relent to his wishes. As soon as he realised that he had lost his goose for good, the accused sold his piece of land for Rs 1+ crore, so that he could satisfy his lust for Car (which he changes regularly), regular foreign trips, etc.
Secondly, the accused knew up front that nothing gets done in court, so take it easy. It’s a nice time pass for him in retirement.
The moral is
· Being Kind doesn’t always get appreciated. It’s a dog eat dog world that we live in now.
· Never be kind enough to part with your hard earned money (if you ever wish to see that money back again) to anyone without some kind of legal agreement. Even then, be prepared to fight for eternity in the courts.
· The moment you give much more than you could afford to lose, you are always at their mercy and they could easily choose to put you under a lot of stress at their own whim.
· Courts can remain in trial far longer than the victims can stay solvent.
