Bengaluru: The high court refused to quash proceedings in a cheating case registered against a couple from Bengaluru, who allegedly duped the complainant of Rs 1.4 crore on the promise of securing a medical seat for her daughter.Smita Prasad is the complainant. According to her in 2023, when her elder daughter didn’t secure appropriate ranking in NEET, Shilpa Aravali and her husband Kiran Kumar P told her they have contacts with influential people and were capable of securing a medical seat for her daughter. Relying on the assurance, the couple paid Rs 35 lakh in cash. Thereafter, upon a further demand, over Rs 1 crore was transferred to Kiran Kumar’s account through five transactions.However, when the couple began to dodge, a case was registered on June 7, 2026 at Bagalagunte police station for cheating, breach of trust, etc.Challenging the same, the couple argued it was a simple money transaction and a criminal case has been registered as a plot to recover the money. However, after perusing the materials on record, Justice M Nagaprasanna declined to accept the argument put forth by the petitioners.The submission that the proceedings are merely a coercive device for recovery of money, therefore, cannot become a talisman by the mere utterance of the expression of “civil dispute,” the judge noted in his order.