Bombay HC quashes FIR against ex-MD of Go First for 'data theft', says 'No offence made out'

The Bombay High Court has quashed a case of alleged data theft lodged against Wolfgang ProckSchauer the former managing director of the now grounded domestic carrier Go First saying no offence was made out against himThe continuation of proceedings against him would be a mere procedural rigmarole a division bench of Justices Bharati Dangre and Manjusha Deshpande said in the order on October 23The bench noted that the complaint has failed to make out an offence against ProckSchauerProckSchauer had sought quashing of the FIR registered against him in February 2018 by the N M Joshi Marg police based on a complaint by Go Airlines India LtdThe case was lodged against him under section 408 criminal breach of trust with property of the Indian Penal Code and sections 43b and 66 of the Information Technology Act pertaining to data theftThe accusations in the complaint do not lead to making out an offence under section 43b read with section 66 of the Information Technology Act We fail to understand as to how the offence under section 66 of the Information Technology Act is made out the HC bench saidContinuation of the proceedings against the petitioner would be nothing short of mere procedural rigmarole and therefore we are inclined to quash and set aside the FIR the court saidIn 2015 ProckSchauer became the chief executive officer CEO of then GoAir later rebranded as Go First in 2021 and was promoted as managing director of the company until he resigned in August 2017As per the company policy it was imperative for him to return all devices used by him as well as all other confidential informationThe complaint alleged that ProckSchauer sent confidential information from his official email ID to his personal email and also to a third party It is also alleged that he had formatted data on his IPadThe complaint further claimed that ProckSchauer during his tenure as CEO was taking decisions on his own without consulting the Board of Directors and sharing information related to the company with third partiesFrom March 2016 to December 2017 ProckSchauer downloaded confidential information and shared it to his personal email and also to a third party Since this information was confidential in nature it has resulted in financial loss to the company the complaint allegedThe bench noted that Go Airlines India Limited has already filed a commercial suit against ProckSchauer in 2018 seeking to restrain him from disclosing confidential information and trade secrets of the company and hence has secured its interestsProckSchauer while refuting the allegations said the emails that he had shared to his personal ID pertained to sale agreements and negotiation with Airbus for the preparation of briefings and presentationsCertain other emails sent to the alleged third party were mails related to his resignation and were sent to his attorney in Austria seeking legal advice ProckSchauers advocate Niranjan Mundargi saidThe high court in its order said it had repeatedly tried to ascertain from the police if there were any other documents downloaded and subsequently shared by the petitioner in his capacity as a CEO fraudulently and dishonestly but has not been provided with any informationThe court also said it has not found any material relied upon by the police to show the petitioner had fraudulently or dishonestly obtained any informationThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever