Jharkhand High Court Quashes ₹1.91 Crore Fraud FIR Against Jamshedpur Businessman & Son

Jamshedpur: The Jharkhand High Court has quashed an FIR and all related criminal proceedings against Vimal Kumar Agarwal and his son Pratik Agarwal in connection with an alleged ₹1.91 crore financial dispute. The order was passed by a single-judge bench of Justice Anil Kumar Choudhary.

The High Court set aside Sonari Police Station Case No. 45/2025 as well as the connected court proceedings under G.R. No. 966/2025, which had been initiated based on a complaint filed by Shankar Lal Gupta, a resident of Bistupur.

According to the complaint, Gupta alleged that Vimal Kumar Agarwal and Pratik Agarwal, associated with M/s Shri Narsing Construction, had misappropriated funds amounting to ₹1.91 crore. Acting on a court directive, Sonari police registered an FIR against the father-son duo.

The dispute dates back to 2017 when, according to Gupta, Vimal Agarwal approached him with a proposal to invest in railway contracting projects. Gupta claimed that the Agarwals represented themselves as experienced railway contractors and informed him about a railway project worth ₹15 crore in Rourkela, promising profit margins of 20 to 30 percent. An agreement was subsequently executed between the parties on January 14, 2017.

Gupta alleged that between January and December 2017, he invested substantial amounts in the project and later provided additional funds after being informed about another contract opportunity worth ₹2.5 crore. Altogether, he claimed to have invested ₹1.91 crore.

During proceedings before the lower court, Vimal Agarwal and Pratik Agarwal secured bail, contending that the matter was nearly eight years old and that they had already repaid ₹1.73 crore to the complainant.

Challenging the criminal proceedings, advocates Sudhir Kumar “Pappu”, Babita Jain, and High Court advocate Nilesh Kumar filed Criminal Miscellaneous Petition No. 1490 of 2026 on behalf of the petitioners.

After hearing the matter, the High Court observed that the dispute essentially arose from a business transaction and was civil in nature rather than a criminal offence. Consequently, the court quashed the FIR and all consequential proceedings, providing major relief to Vimal Kumar Agarwal and Pratik Agarwal.