The Karnataka High Court recently quashed a criminal complaint under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act against Bharat Forge chairman Baba Kalyani over a land dispute involving the NICE road project in Bengaluru [Baba Kalyani Vs Rajendran].
Justice M Nagaprasanna held that the complaint filed in 2018 over an alleged incident in 2007 was an abuse of the process of law because the complainants had failed to explain the delay of 11 years.
"This forms a classic illustration as to the misuse and abuse of the provisions of the Act. The narration in the complaint begins in the year 2007 and ends in 2018, but the incident remains only of 2007," the Court said.
The November 4 order also granted relief to businessman Ashok Kheny and D Ravishankar, who were named alongside Kalyani in the complaint.
Kalyani, whose full name is Babasaheb Neelkanth Kalyani, is the Chairman and Managing Director of Bharat Forge and heads the Pune-based Kalyani Group. He is a shareholder and former director of Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprises Limited (NICEL), the company behind the NICE road project. He directly holds a 5 percent stake in NICEL, while Kalyani Group company BF Utilities holds another 75 percent.
Kheny is associated with Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprises Limited (NICEL), the company behind the NICE road project.
The case arose from a private complaint filed by S Rajendran, S Meganathan and S Sampath, who alleged that the accused had illegally entered their land, damaged property and subjected them to caste-based abuses.
The complainants claimed that their father had been granted two acres of land in Kodigehalli village by the Karnataka government.
The complainants alleged that their land was taken over for the NICE project using forged records and that their educational society's building was demolished in 2007.
They approached a special court in 2018 alleging commission of offences under the SC/ST Act and other IPC offences. Police subsequently filed a closure report in the matter but the special court ordered further investigation in February 2025.
Kalyani, Kheny and Ravishankar challenged the proceedings before the High Court, citing the unexplained 11-year delay and failure to examine whether offences were disclosed. The complainants opposed the petitions, arguing that delay alone could not invalidate proceedings involving allegations of land fraud and caste-based abuses.
The Court found that the complainants had failed to explain why they waited until 2018 to initiate criminal proceedings concerning an incident that allegedly occurred in March 2007.
"If everything has happened in the year 2007 why did the respondents wait to register the crime for 11 long years remains completely unexplained, even in the complaint. Therefore, the complaint is full of embellishments," the Court said.
It noted that deliberate and unexplained delay could justify quashing criminal proceedings where the circumstances indicated an abuse of the process of law.
"Even if the contents of the complaint are taken as true, it would not make out an offence, for it being marred by delay," the judge ruled while quashing the case.
Senior Advocate Prabhuling K Navadgi, instructed by advocate SB Mathapati, appeared for the petitioners.
Advocates Prabhugoud B Tumbigi and Syed Khaleel Pasha represented the private respondents in the respective petitions.
High Court Government Pleader Waheeda MM appeared for the State of Karnataka.
[Read Judgment]