Bombay High Court quashes summons issued to Amazon India Vice President Amit Agarwal

The Bombay High Court on Thursday quashed the criminal complaint and issuance of summons by a Magistrate court to the Vice President of Amazon India Amit Agarwal..The Ulhasnagar Magistrate court had summoned Agarwal in a criminal complaint filed by a Mumbai lawyer Amritpal Singh Khalsa over non-receipt of a product ordered through the e-commerce website..In the plea filed through GNP Legal, Amazon submitted that it is an e-commerce website which only provides an online platform to the seller to sell their products.It was further stated that their Vice President was not involved in the day to day activities of the company hence there was no need to have summoned him..After having reserved the order on September 8, 2021, Justice Sandeep K Shinde pronounced the verdict today allowing the petition and quashing the summons issued to Agrawal. .Justice Shinde noted that Amazon being a facilitator between buyer and seller had no control over the transaction between two parties.The complaint filed by Khalsa did not disclose the role of Agrawal in the commission of crime in question and this fact had been admitted by the Magistrate, the Court noted..The Court also observed that there was no direct material on record to even suggest that the petitioner had any direct involvement or was inducing the complainant to place order with an intention to not deliver it, even after receiving consideration for the same.Thus, neither the complaint nor inquiry report submitted by the investigating officer constitutes the offence of cheating against the Petitioner, the judgment said.."Facts of the case show that the complainant volunteered to purchase the product through the e-commerce market platform of the Petitioner from the seller," the Court noted.In view of these observations, Justice Shinde observed that the allegations made against Agarwal do not constitute the offence of cheating or disclose fraudulent intention of Amazon.The Court, therefore, proceeded to quash the complaint as well as the order issuing process before the Ulhasnagar Magistrate Court..[Read Judgment]