SRINAGAR, June 3: A local court has awarded one year jail to an accused in a cheque bounce case under Negotiable Instrument (NI) Act with the direction to pay the amount with 6 percent interest to the complainant.
The Chief Judicial Magistrate Budgam presided by Abdul Baari, has convicted one Gh. Mohi-ud-din Dar of Khansahib, Budgam, in a cheque dishonour case involving an amount of Rs. 1.04 crore, under Section 138 of the NI Act.
The complainant Abdul Rehman Wani of Pattan Baramulla alleged that the accused-Dar was debited with Rs. 1.04 crore to him in a proposed land transaction for which the complainant paid him the entire consideration amount. However, the transaction of property could not be finalized due to some discrepancies on part of the accused-Dar
The complainant states that upon being confronted and asked to refund the money, the accused-Dar issued two cheques amounting to Rs. 50 lakh and Rs. 54 lakh, which on presented for encashment before the concerned bank were dishonored with reason ‘Insufficient Funds’ given by the bank. The complainant under the provision of law served the accused-Dar with a legal notice however he failed to clear the outstanding liability, leading to the institution of criminal proceedings.
During the trial of the case, the accused admitted that the cheques belonged to his account and bore his signatures but attempted to defend himself by claiming that the cheques had been lost and subsequently misused.
After a detailed examination of the evidence, the court rejected the defence as unsubstantiated and held that the accused had failed to rebut the statutory presumption that the cheques were issued towards a legally enforceable liability.
The court consequently, convicted the accused under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act and sentenced him to one year’s simple imprisonment. “The accused to pay the cheque amount of Rs. 1.04 crore along with 6 percent interest, calculated up to the date of judgment, to the complainant”, the court directed
The court made it clear that in the event of non-payment, the accused-Dar shall undergo an additional three months’ simple imprisonment.
Follow our WhatsApp channel
