Family liability in criminal case when a family member commits fraud

[Kamlesh Chandra]

Sir,
My son works in a bank and have committed a fraud. He had used family members accounts for utilising fraud money without knowledge of ours. We have not signed any bank vouchers for these transactions. Bank has lodged f I R against him under 409 ipc and 13(1)(d) of P.C.A. Can police make us co accused in criminal case and can bank file civil suit against family members as both parents are govt employee and sister is doctor? He is saying that he will tell the police that neither of us are involved in this matter and he misused our accounts.

[Dr. Ashok Dhamija]

It will depend on the investigation of the case. If it is found during the investigation that your son has forged signatures of other members of the family and that there is no role of any family members, then the family members may not be made accused persons. However, on the other hand, if there is no concrete evidence to prove that it is your son who forged signatures of the family members, then there may be a chance that family members may be made accused as their accounts have been involved in the fraud, as you have mentioned. It all depends on the result of the investigation. What I have indicated above is only a guess work on the basis of very limited facts made known to me.

Likewise, the filing of civil suit by the bank against family members would depend on the facts of the case. Both options could be there before the bank.

     

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Dr. Ashok Dhamija is a New Delhi based Supreme Court Advocate and author of law books. Read more about him by clicking here. List of his Forum Replies. List of his other articles. List of his Quora Answers. List of his YouTube Videos.

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