KARACHI: A judicial magistrate on Friday convicted a man in a fraud case as he failed to deliver a car to the buyer despite receiving payment.

Judicial Magistrate (Central) Asadullah Memon found Khalid Noor guilty of offence under Section 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property) and sentenced him to two years in prison, saying the “act of accused appears to be the financial murder of the complainant”.

The court also imposed a Rs50,000 fine on the convict and in case of default, he would have to serve additional one month in jail.

According to state prosecutor Sultana Naqvi, Muhammad Shah Zar came across an online advertisement on an automobile website (PakWheels) that listed the contact number of Amjad, an absconding accused in the case.

The buyer reached out to Amjad who informed him that the advertised car had already been sold, but asked him to visit his showroom near Aladdin Park in Gulshan-i-Iqbal. Shah Zar had visited the showroom and offered Rs1.4 million for a Suzuki Swift car. Amjad then provided the contact number of Khalid Noor and asked him to discuss the payment schedule with him.

The buyer contacted Khalid who directed him to deposit the payment in a specified bank account. Later, the complainant transferred Rs985,000 as part of the payment. However, instead of delivering the car after receiving the payment, Khalid switched off his mobile phone and disappeared.

In its detailed order, the court observed: “The accused Khalid Noor had dishonestly induced the complainant and took the handsome amount from him through online transactions deposited in his account, therefore, the accused has deceived the complainant, committed cheating and committed forgery for purpose of cheating.”

“Given the unchallenged evidence provided by the prosecution and the accused’s inability to disprove his involvement in the fraudulent transaction, it stands proved beyond a reasonable doubt that the accused intentionally deceived the complainant, resulting in a wrongful gain for himself and wrongful loss to the complainant,” it added.

“Evidently the dishonest intention and deception of the accused while making the promise is manifest from this very established fact. Thereafter complainant upon such dishonest inducement made by the absconding accused agreed to purchase the vehicle in question and entered into verbal agreement with the present accused on the instigation of absconding accused introducing him as P.A. of director of the showroom, however, despite payment the complainant neither received the possession of the vehicle in question nor amount paid/deposited by him in the account of present accused,” the court noted.

The court also declared Amjad a proclaimed absconder and ruled that the case would remain dormant until his arrest.

During the trial, the defence counsel contended that the case against his client was false and ‘fabricated’. He argued that no exact date of the offence and the name of his client were mentioned in the online advertisement.

However, the court rejected the pleas and noted that the accused failed to establish as to how and under what reasons he had received the money from the complainant.

Regarding the delay in the FIR, the court noted: “It carries no weight in as much as the incident was continuous one and the accused was taking money through online transactions on different dates which has already been proved.”

A case was registered at the Sir Syed police station under Sections 420 and 34 of the Pakistan Penal Code.

Published in Dawn, November 9th, 2024