• Man who stole crores from my company threatening defamation

I owned a business and it was an export oriented unit and we were doing very well when our neighbor who runs a similar business in collusion with our manager stole material worth crores of rupees and probably exported abroad also making it a contraband. Unfortunately we id not take any action against them. we didn't go to the police even though it was happening for years but in 2017 finally I wrote to the commissioner of police and to the CID Department in Pune that this stealing and has probably in collusion with our manager. the problem is I do not have any proof the only way I requested the commissioner of police to find the truth is to investigate and interrogate this man and his accomplice to find out the conspiracies and the modus operandi how they stole and how they did their criminal act. The only proof I have is that another company owner told me the same man who stole from is stoked from his company as well. However I'm not sure if he will go to the police to testify against this thief. Yesterday I received an email from this criminal (probably written by his lawyer) that he will take Stern action against me for harassing him and writing these defamatory letters to him. It seems he has found confidence that he cannot be arrested for his crimes and therefore now he's gunning for me. It's a classic case of " ek to chori upar sey seenajori " but I do not know what to do now because I live in United States and he lives locally and if he files a case I would have to go to India and defend myself . The irony is I'm the victim who is now being prosecuted for defamation , rather than getting Justice What should I do in these circumstances. This man has stolen goods worth crores virtually destroyed a business and a family and now I have to go through all this. what should I do to stop this travesty of justice and get Justice. He is threatening to file F.I.R against me.
Asked 5 years ago in Criminal Law
Religion: Christian

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9 Answers

Sir the letters are private conversation no publication of same are done by you so it doesn't amount to any defamation. You on prima facie reasonable belief has.given complaint and there is no defemation in this so no suit or complaint of defamation filed against you.

Further file a FIR on him for theft and cheating along your manager and let the police investigate it and don't worry no defemation is there for private letters

Shubham Jhajharia
Advocate, Ahmedabad
25514 Answers
179 Consultations

5.0 on 5.0

Truth is best defence in defamation case

2) you have only sought police investigations against manager for acting in collusion with neighbour

3) reply to legal notice . Deny that you have malinged his reputation. You have merely sought police investigations

Ajay Sethi
Advocate, Mumbai
94522 Answers
7485 Consultations

5.0 on 5.0

Did the Police get back to you with their findings?

Did the police commissioner register an FIR on them?

Basically, a defamation case can be filed only if you have defamed the person in public or society. But filing false complaint against a person will also amount to defamation provided the case is proved otherwise.

See the letter you wrote to the Police Commissioner. If you have mentioned that you "think" your manager might be involved, then you are safe, because your complaint is against the theft and not against any individual, but you are mentioning the managers name to help in investigation. So it doesn't amount to defamation.

As far as harassment goes, you have approached the police regarding the stolen goods and not against any individual. So it's not harassment.

Now suppose Police says that your manager is innocent, then you can still approach the court asking the court to direct the Police to conduct investigation properly.

But what you can immediately do is to file a complaint against the one who has mailed you and is threatening you to file an FIR. No one can threaten saying he will file a police complaint.

Sandeep Prakash
Advocate, Bangalore
308 Answers
2 Consultations

5.0 on 5.0

Before you go for complaint to anybody you must have completed your homework which actually you have not completed and gone to complaint about the criminal activity.

If the stock of your export company have been stollen and sold to somebody else the manager of the export unit is responsible for all these theft and misappropriation this can easily be find out by checking the Purchase production and balance of stock.

You have to take action against your manager first please turn your investigation and Audit reports in this regard in the police so as to investigatin takes place and the culprit can be identified.

If you are writing any baseless emails you are attractiving the defamation suit.

Vimlesh Prasad Mishra
Advocate, Lucknow
6852 Answers
23 Consultations

4.9 on 5.0

Hello,

Tender a reply to the said notice.

Also pursue your case before the police. It is not for you to prove as to who is the criminal.

You go ahead and just report to the police that certain goods have been stolen and you suspect that the manager is involved.

If the police is not registering the FIR then lodge a case before the magistrate under section 156(3) of the Cr.P.C.

Do not make further delay in filing the complaint.

Regards

Anilesh Tewari
Advocate, New Delhi
18077 Answers
377 Consultations

5.0 on 5.0

Dear client,

It is your mistake that you not filed criminal complaint till now. Either authorise some of your trustful to file criminal complain or visit India once.

No defamation case or fir made out against you.

Yogendra Singh Rajawat
Advocate, Jaipur
22596 Answers
31 Consultations

4.4 on 5.0

Hi, you should register a FIR against him, if the police is not taking any action against him you can directly file a complaint in court ... If the court takes cognizance against him, then the offence is established and there can be no defamation against you

Hemant Chaudhary
Advocate, Gurgaon
4630 Answers
67 Consultations

4.9 on 5.0

1. You should have 'shabud' before bringing the allegation of 'chori' against some body.

2. The system followed in your business/factory should pin down responsibilty on the concerned person.

3. Since you have found that yourt articles have been missing from your premises, you shall have to lodge police complant informing in whose custody/responsibility the said items were kept by you.

4. You can certainly give a list of employees who had the access to those missing articles.

5. If you have not written any letter to him alleging that he has stolen the said Articles and have just lodged the police complaint, your said ex-employee has no ground for filing a defamation case against you.

6. You can still send a complaint to the local police station about the said theft of Articles which falls under your right.

7. It is to be noted that not reporting a crime to the police is itself an illegal act.

Krishna Kishore Ganguly
Advocate, Kolkata
27191 Answers
726 Consultations

5.0 on 5.0

if you complain against that man to the Commissioner of Police then that does not become defamation

even if you write letters to him stating that he has stolen your funds, that also cannot be defamation

defamation is when a person makes derogatory remarks against another person and publicizes such remarks to the public thereby maligning the image and reputation of the latter

mere complaining to the police against someone cannot amount to defamation

if that were so then any person who initiates a legal proceeding against another would become liable for defamation

he is only threatening you so that you give up and do not pursue the criminal action against him

you can give a fitting reply to his notice threatening defamation

Yusuf Rampurawala
Advocate, Mumbai
7483 Answers
79 Consultations

5.0 on 5.0

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