The Supreme Court on Monday granted interim protection from arrest to the accused in a cheating case involving an alleged ₹27 crore gold transaction. A Bench of Justices M.M. Sundresh and Sheel Nagu directed the petitioner to deposit, within three weeks, the amount equivalent to the value of the disputed 8 kg of gold, calculated at the rate prevailing on the date of the agreement, before the Registry. The Court ordered that the petitioner shall not be arrested in the meantime.

Senior Advocate Sidhharth Dave, appearing for Petitioner, submitted that 27 kg out of the agreed 35 kg of gold had already been supplied and the dispute pertained only to the remaining quantity. Stressing that the 70-year-old petitioner had cooperated with the investigation for over one and a half years, Mr Dave offered to deposit the value of the balance gold.

Accepting the proposal, the Court remarked, “Let the sum corresponding to the value of the gold at the time of the agreement be deposited…The petitioner shall not be arrested.”

The case arises from an FIR registered at Police Station Zirakpur, SAS Nagar (Mohali) under Sections 318 and 61(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023. According to the prosecution, the complainant transferred over ₹27 crore for the purchase of 36.460 kg of gold, but only about 27 kg was allegedly delivered, leaving gold worth over ₹6 crore outstanding.

Earlier, the Punjab & Haryana High Court, while refusing anticipatory bail to the accused and co-accused, held that the material on record disclosed a prima facie case of cheating, observing that the dispute could not be treated as a mere civil dispute at the anticipatory bail stage. The High Court also noted that CCTV footage relied upon by the accused did not substantiate the alleged delivery of the remaining gold.