Karnataka High Court rejects petitions by conman Roshan Saldanha, his wife in cheating cases

Several crimes were registered against the petitioners based on the complaints filed by businessmen from Bengaluru, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Lucknow.

Bengaluru: The High Court of Karnataka has dismissed the petitions filed by conman from Mangaluru, Roshan Saldanha, his wife Dafney Neethu D Souza and Chandrashekar, another accused from Chitradurga. The petitioners are involved in multiple cases of cheating businessmen promising hundreds of crores of loans at low interest rates.

Several crimes were registered against the petitioners between 2024 and 2025 in Mangaluru and Chitradurga CEN police stations based on the complaints filed by businessmen from Bengaluru, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Lucknow. Most of the complaints pertain to cheating by the petitioners on the pretext of granting hundreds of crore loans at low interest rates ranging between 4 per cent to 6 per cent per annum.

In all cases, the petitioners would collect money in advance stating that it would be required to purchase stamp papers and other purposes. Several complaints were filed after reading/watching initial cases registered against the petitioners.

The advocates for the petitioners submitted that interim orders have been granted in these petitions on the score that the issues pertain to recovery of money and civil in nature. It was further contended that the complainants should have resorted to filing civil suits for recovery of money but, the criminal law is set into motion.

On the other hand, the complainants in several cases argued that the petitioner accused persons have a common modus operandi. It was further stated that the petitioners are before the court, the moment a fresh FIR is registered and pressed for an interim order of stay on investigation. They said the crimes registered against the petitioners are crimes against society as every person is getting hoodwinked.

Justice M Nagaprasanna noted that a particular transaction can give rise to registration of both civil proceedings and criminal culpability. “The criminal culpability in the cases is writ large albeit, prima facie. It is in such circumstances the Supreme Court has held that civil and criminal proceedings can go on simultaneously,” the court said.

The court cited Apex Court judgements on the issue and said that mere availability of a civil remedy does not by itself eclipse the jurisdiction of the criminal law, where the allegations on their face disclose essential ingredients of a recognizable offence. The civil and criminal remedies though may arise from the same set of facts, operate in distinct spheres and pursue fundamentally different objectives, but would depend on facts obtaining in each of the cases, the court said.

“If the complaints quoted hereinabove are considered on the bedrock of the elucidation of the Apex Court in the judgments noted hereinabove what would unmistakably emerge is, the matter requires investigation in the least. The accused are said to have hoodwinked several people after luring them into respective transactions. Therefore, there can be no question of interdicting the investigation in such cases,” Justice Nagaprasanna said.