Praveen Kumar, a State government employee from Doranda in Jharkhand had opted for purchasing a LG mobile phone worth Rs 8,995 for Rs 3,990 and a Swatch watch of Rs 4,150 for Rs 2,490 under a scheme by which he was allegedly delivered a new watch and an old mobile phone through a courier by the HDFC Bank.

Loopholes in parcel

On delivery of the articles on March 18, 2006, the purchaser’s wife had opened the parcel and pointed out the wrong committed against the purchaser by the bank and the delivery agent.

The purchaser stopped paying for the articles after sending a representation that a fraud had been committed. He also sought replacement of the mobile phone.

Case pending

Kumar said he had also filed a criminal case of cheating against the Bank, and the case is pending before the judicial magistrate court in Ranchi.

Subsequently, the bank having its credit card office at Chennai, filed a criminal suit for the recovery of the amount of about Rs 34,000 before the metropolitan magistrate at Egmore in Chennai.

Praveen Kumar stated that he had been in contact with Praloy Mandal, the local head of the credit card division of the HDFC Bank and Ava Merchandising Private Ltd, which delivered the articles to the purchaser.

Meanwhile, a summons has been issued by the court to Kumar to appear before it on April 11, 2008.

Transfer of case

Kumar had filed a petition before the Supreme Court seeking transfer of the case from Chennai to Ranchi stating that the order was placed in Jharkhand,The court was also about 2005 kilometres from his place of residence.

However, the apex court refused to transfer the case to Ranchi saying only matrimonial cases are transferred from one court to another.

“The petitioner is a government servant and is a resident of Ranchi, and the respondent bank has its branch office in Ranchi and can handle the case here,’’ said the application filed by Kumar through advocate Ajay Kumar.