Morung Express News
Dimapur | October 6
The Supreme Court has stayed further proceedings before the Dimapur trial court in a criminal case arising from an alleged Rs 3.5 crore “Mystery Box” transaction involving a senior Nagaland government official, a filmmaker and several other persons, including a pastor.
Hearing the Special Leave Petition (SLP), a Bench of Justices Ujjwal Bhuyan and Atul S Chandurkar, on September 30, stayed further proceedings in GR Case No. 739 of 2023 pending before the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Dimapur, and issued notice, returnable on January 12, 2027.
The SLP challenged the December 3, 2025 judgment of the Gauhati High Court, Kohima Bench, which had dismissed a criminal petition filed by filmmaker, identified as Anup Gadal, seeking quashing of the FIR and subsequent proceedings.
The case centres on an alleged transaction in which the victim, a senior government official, allegedly parted with approximately Rs 3.5 crore after being induced to invest in what was presented as a “Mystery Box” or “Antique Box”. The prosecution’s case, as recorded by the High Court, is that the box did not actually exist and was allegedly part of a conspiracy to extract money from the victim.
According to the chargesheet, the episode followed an earlier proposal involving a school project. The filmmaker and a co-accused, described in the judgment as a pastor, allegedly met the victim in Siliguri and discussed a project said to be worth Rs 50 crore, asking her to arrange Rs 50 lakh. After she did not accept the proposal, the prosecution alleged that the accused came up with the “Antique Box” or “Mystery Box” idea.
The prosecution further alleged that filmmaker prepared documents purportedly relating to a trading company, while the pastor was asked to convince the victim.
Other persons were allegedly brought in to play roles including that of a managing director and a Bangladeshi farmer. The investigation allegedly found that several accused persons benefited from the money and that the filmmaker’s bank account was used to receive part of the amount.
However, he denied involvement and approached the High Court seeking quashing of the FIR and criminal proceedings.
One of his principal arguments was that the FIR had not been filed by the actual victim but by another person who, he argued, had no direct involvement in the alleged offence. The High Court rejected the contention, noting that the victim had executed a registered Power of Attorney dated October 23, 2023 authorising the complainant to institute proceedings against filmmaker and the other accused.
The Court also rejected the contention that the dispute was essentially civil in nature, holding that the allegations and material collected during the investigation disclosed criminal elements and did not warrant quashing of the proceedings.
It further noted that a chargesheet was filed on June 28, 2025 and, on examining it and its enclosures, found a prima facie case against the filmmaker and the co-accused under Sections 420, 403, 406 and 120B of the IPC in connection with the alleged inducement of the victim to part with approximately Rs 3.5 crore.
The Supreme Court’s latest order does not determine the merits of the allegations but only stayed further proceedings in the case while the SLP is pending.
