No offence made out: Bombay High Court quashes FIR against former MD of Go First for 'data theft'

Mumbai: The Bombay High Court has quashed a case of alleged data theft lodged against Wolfgang Prock-Schauer, the former managing director of the now grounded domestic carrier Go First, saying no offence was made out against him.

The 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 23.

The bench noted that the complaint has failed to make out an offence against Prock-Schauer.

Prock-Schauer 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 Ltd.

The case was lodged against him under section 408 (criminal breach of trust with property) of the Indian Penal Code and sections 43(b) and 66 of the Information Technology Act pertaining to data theft.

"The accusations in the complaint do not lead to making out an offence under section 43(b) 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 said.

"Continuation 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 said.

In 2015, Prock-Schauer 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 2017.

As per the company policy, it was imperative for him to return all devices used by him as well as all other confidential information.

The complaint alleged that Prock-Schauer 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 IPad.

The complaint further claimed that Prock-Schauer 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 parties.

From March 2016 to December 2017, Prock-Schauer 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 alleged.

The bench noted that Go Airlines India Limited has already filed a commercial suit against Prock-Schauer in 2018 seeking to restrain him from disclosing confidential information and trade secrets of the company and hence has secured its interests.

Prock-Schauer, 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 presentations.

Certain 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, Prock-Schauer's advocate Niranjan Mundargi said.

The 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 information.

The court also said it has not found any material relied upon by the police to show the petitioner had fraudulently or dishonestly obtained any information.