In the Court of the
Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum, Unit -I, Kolkata,
8B, Nelie Sengupta Sarani, 4th Floor, Kolkata-700087.
CDF/Unit-I/Case No.149/2004.
1) Lipi Mukherjee,
Quarter No.NB-5, Unit No.A, New Traffic,
P.O. Kharagpur, Dist. Paschim Medinipur. ---------- Complainant
---Versus---
1) Bajaj Allianz General Insurance Co. Ltd.
Regd. office at GE Plaza, Airport Road,
Yerawada, Pune-411006 and Regional office at
10B, O.C. Ganguly Sarani (Lee Road), Kolkata-20.
2) Ashok Leyland Finance Ltd.
41, Shakespeare Sarani, Kolkata-17. ---------- Opposite Parties
Present : Sri Sankar Nath Das, President.
Dr. Subir Kumar Chaudhuri, Member.
Smt. Samiksha Bhattacharya, Member
Order No. 65 Dated 16-08-2013.
The case of the complainant in short is that complainant was desirous of purchasing a vehicle and due to paucity of adequate fund approached o.p. no.2 and o.p. no.2 duly agreed to finance the vehicle to be purchased by the complainant and accordingly the complainant decided to purchase a Maruti Omni 8 Seater Van from Bhandari Automobiles Ltd.
Complainant through o.p. no.2 purchased a Maruti Van from Bhandari Automobiles Ltd. By an agreement in writing dt.31.3.02 o.p. no.2 agreed to let out on hire and the complainant agreed to take on hire a Maruti Omni 8 Seater Van having engine no.F8BIN2252353 and chassis no.ST911N515770 at an agreed hire purchase price of Rs.2,54,901/- repayable in 35 monthly instalments of Rs.7381 x 1 and Rs.7280 x 34 each.
In view of his purchase agreement dt.11.4.04 complainant has a conditional right to possess the vehicle in terms of the said agreement and o.p. no.2 , being the owner of the said vehicle, as per the terms of the said agreement, all along had the right, title and interest on the hired vehicle.
In view of the theft of the said vehicle the complainant has failed to pay any of the hire charges in terms of the said agreement and large sums of money has fallen due and payable in respect of the agreement on hire.
Complainant had the said vehicle insured through the o.p. and the period of insurance was on and from 30.3.02 to midnight of 29.3.03. The policy under which the Maruti Van was insured was a comprehensive policy being policy no.G02-1000-1801900-48055 and o.p. agreed to cover the entire value of the car for a sum of Rs.2,36,333/- being the price of the car.
For the purpose of the said policy the complainant paid a premium aggregating to a sum of Rs.8115/-. The said sum of Rs.8115/- was paid by the complainant in cash and the same was received by o.p. before issuing the policy in the name of the complainant in respect of the said vehicle. In this regard it is pertinent to state that as the Maruti Van was a new vehicle, no regular and permanent registration number had yet been allotted to the said vehicle by the Public Vehicles Deptt. and as such, the registration number in the said policy was deliberately kept blank by o.p. at the time of issuance of the said policy.
On 21.4.02 on or about 9-00 p.m. the said vehicle was being driven by the complainant’s driver Babu Mesram. The said driver of the vehicle had parked the car in front of Kharagpur Railway Bus Stand for a brief period. At that point of time he was approached by two gentlemen and one lady. One of the gentlemen introduced himself as Sunil Roy resident of Golbazar P.S. and requested the driver to take them to Digha which was not very far aware from the said place. The said Sunil Roy assured the driver that he was well acquainted with the complainant and would inform her that on his request the said driver had escorted them to Digha. The driver of the said vehicle agreed to escort the said persons and drive them to Digha. The said vehicle reached Digha quite late in the night and as such on being requested by the said persons the driver agreed to spend the night in the car. The said persons boarded on a hotel called “Furor” at New Digha and the said vehicle was parked in front of the hotel. On the next morning i.e. on 22.4.02 when the driver was ready to leave for Kharagpur he was once again requested by the said persons to spend some more time with them so that they can accompany and escort them back to Kharagpur. The driver on such repeated requested agreed to wait for their departure. The driver was given the impression that immediately after lunch they would depart for Kharagpur and accordingly after lunch being the same afternoon it was extremely hot and humid and the said persons further requested the driver to take some rest and that they would leave after sunset. However, on requested the driver checked into one of the rooms of the Hotel Furore as it was unbearable to stay in the car in such extreme hot condition. When the driver eventually woke up on or about 6-00 p.m. in the evening to his utter shock and disbelief the said driver could neither locate the car nor the said persons.
The driver immediately with the aid and assistance of the hotel staff searched the entire area and tried to locate the said vehicle. On or about 9-00 p.m. in the night the driver duly intimated the said event to Digha P.S. and also informed the complainant over telephone.
On 23.4.02 the complainant duly lodged an FIR before the Digha P.S. regarding the theft of said vehicle bearing Regn. No.TCR 396 and the same was received by the Officer in Charge on the same date.
On the basis of the said FIR a police case being no.19/2002 was registered and offence u/s 379 of the Indian Penal Code was framed. Subsequent the case was registered as G.R. Case no.192/2002 before the SDJM, Contai. Investigation Officer appointed in the said case duly submitted its report before the Ld. SDJM and came to Digha with passenger who had booked the said vehicle for a particular period.
Being aggrieved by and dissatisfied with the said purported report of the investigating officer the complainant duly filed an application for reinvestigation before the Ld. SDJM on 13.1.03. By an order dt.2.1.03 the Ld. SDJM, Contai was pleased to pass an order directing the Officer in charge, Digha P.S. to reinvestigate the case by any competent police officer other then the previous one and to submit report by 6.3.03.
Pursuant to and in terms of the said order the matter was reinvestigated and a final report was submitted by the investigating officer on or about 7.4.03. By an order dt.7.8.03 the Ld. SDJM was pleased to pass an order against the final report as submitted on the basis of reinvestigating order.
Decision & reasons :-
In view of the above petition this Forum is not satisfied about the commission of theft of the vehicle in question.
That being the petition we find and hold that complainant is not entitled to relief.
Hence
Ordered
The instant case stands dismissed without cost on contest.
