There needs to be written contract regarding brokerage to be paid

2) you never agreed to pay the brokerage amount

3) what’s app messages are admissible in evidence

4) you must reply to legal notice

5) deny any brokerage was agreed upon and that any offence of cheating has been committed by you

1. Verbal agreement is as good as an agreement s a written one.However in absence of wirtten agreement it is very difficult to prove its terms and conditions.

2. Yes, whatsapp messages are permissible piece of evidence.

3. You should reply the notice on your own terms denying his allegations.

4.The case if any agaisnt you is civil one ans there is a breach of agreement if at all you had promised certain amount of money which later you have refused to release.There is no ingredient of criminal cases of cheating at all.

Dear Concerned,

A. No as there is no agreement about brokerage services and payment it will be difficult to prove the financial relationship - more over s you have already paid the money - you can always say that the money decided has already been paid.

B. Yes messages sent to the broker will be used against you if the case is filed.

c. Thats your choice - you may not need to reply the notice - depending on what amount is due to the Broker - the broker may decide to file a case - for eg if the commission paid is upto say 1-2 lacs - broker may not file a case a the lawyer fee itself would be decent - however if it is more than 2 lacs he may consider filing - for that matter a case just to bring you to criminal record in India would be enough for him to harass you.

d. Depends on the whats app conversation - if say you have agreed to pay 4 lac rupees over messages and you have paid 2 lacs - you may have to pay the balance as you have already paid 2 proving the transaction and the balance because you agreed.

WHAT"S the way out - You may choose to reply to this person's notice, through your lawyer here in India and based on review of all the discussions between yourself and the broker - tune the reply in a manner that you safeguard yourself from any liability.

You may choose to send the entire communication and whats app message chat between yourself and your broker for a Free Review of the documents (on my email id) and suggest you for next steps.

Best of Luck

As per the facts of the case no offence of cheating punishable under section 420 of the Indian penal code is made out against you. Because there was no dishonest of fraudulent intention from your part at the beginning  to cheat him. According to the judgement given by the Supreme Court of India in Ramjas versus state of UP it is clear that failure of promise at the later stage cannot form basis for the initiation of proceeding for the offence of cheating punishable under section 420 of the Indian Penal Code. You should not be worry that he can initiate criminal proceeding against you on this fact and roped your wife also in that preceding. If he files FIR or complaint against you on this fact for the office of cheating you have to move and application before the high court under section 482 of the code of criminal procedure and for quashing of this criminal proceeding. You have proper remedy to defend yourself against any false criminal case filed against you.

Yes WhatsApp messages may be used as evidence but the person wants to use these messages as evidence have to follow the procedure laid down under section 65b of the Indian Evidence Act. He has to produce his mobile phone printout of the messages along with a certificate that messages has been exchanged through the proper media and it has not been manipulated. 

If giving threats to initiate criminal proceeding against you through this notice you have to ignore it or you may  file a complaint on the basis of this notice for the offence of criminal intimidation punishable under section 504/506 of the Indian Penal Code.

The broker wants to file FIR against you on the basis of these facts he will not be able to sustain his case and it may be  quashed by the high court under section 482 of the CRPC. This is very weak case because there is no ingredients of the offence of cheating.

You need to reply to this notice through an Advocate so that he does not gets success in creating one sided evidence against you.

1. No. That will be a very weak claim. You need to write all this in the reply.

2. Could play, if he's able to demonstrate before the court that there was an agreement bin between you two for payment of commission.

3 and 4) it's a very weak case but still you must reply to his notice because, otherwise his allegations would go unrebutted.

1. Since there is no written contract you can refuse to pay him the commission if he has not performed his duty with due diligence that was expected of him.

2. Reply to his notice through your lawyer and deny your liability altogether.

3. Watsapp messages can be led in evidence but this is not a case of cheating.

4. Failure to reply to the legal notice is tantamount to admission of allegations.

1. An agreement can be oral also but in that case the other side shall have to prove that he had an oral agreement with you and you have breached the terms of the said oral agreement entered in to by and between you two.

2. Whatsapp messages are electronic evidence and are treated as valid evidence.

3. You are actually getting an opportunity to put in record what you want to state in the matter and I dislike the idea of not replying to any legal notice. Legal notices are precursor to filing of court case. He may or may not file legal case and the said legal notice may also be for scarring you.

4. It depends what oral agreement you had, what have you mentioned in the whatsappp messages etc. You can reply to his legal notice correcting your stand and inform him that what you have p[aid to him was actually what was agreed by both of you.

Hi, if there is no written agreement between you to, then there is no liability on your part .. It is advisable to send a reply of the legal notice .. In absence of such a agreement , neither he can file a civil suit for recovery nor a criminal complaint of cheating .. Don't worry his claim is bogus in eyes of law

The case is not much against you bereft any written communication for the share in the brokerage.

But it is advised that you give a prompt reply to the notice, so that the legal notice is not used as a prove by him, if some case is filed by him in future.

As per my experience I can tell you that the legal notice has just been issued to threaten you, therefore you give a reply in strong words to the notice.

Regards

Let me know if I can be of any help and Happy Diwali.

1. He can apply the oral agreement as law in this and claim his rights, however in the absence of any witness and since you have already paid him a part amount, you may assert that you have have already paid the brokerage as agreed and deny his further claims in this regard.

2. whatsapp messages cannot be considered as evidence in this situation.

3. It becomes your duty to give a reply to the legal notice or else it can be termed as you have accepted his demand.

4. It depends on how you challenge the case against you.