Dear Vivian,
Conducting the domestic enquiry has its own importance on two counts. These are as below.
Firstly, imagine for a while that the company orders domestic enquiry and tell the accused to depose before it. The accused appears and in the enquiry, misconduct of the employee is established. Management tells the employee to refund the money to the company with interest. The accused accepts it and pays also. Therefore, matter gets settled. Thereafter, whether to pursue the the case through civil court is the management's call. No company would be interested to do that.
What I have written above may sound little utopian, nevertheless, we must consider it as one of the possibilities.
The second scenario is as below. Suppose in the domestic enquiry the misconduct is proved. However, the court acquits the accused. In that case should court verdict override the domestic enquiry?
No. Rather there are higher court verdicts wherein high court has held that findings of domestic enquiry overrides the court ruling. You may check the following link wherein one such verdict is given by Hon'ble Madras Court:
M.M. Rubber Company Ltd. vs Presiding Officer (Addl.) Labour ... on 10 September, 1985
Thanks,
Dinesh Divekar
Dear Franklin,
You can file FIR for fraud if it attracts IPC but not domestic enquiry (domestic enquiry serve no purpose) since the employer and employee relationship don't exit. Now he is an outsider who have committed fraud when he was employee.