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2020 (11) TMI 506 - HC - Indian LawsDishonor of Cheque - offence punishable under Section 138 of NI Act - legally enforceable debt or not - allegation is that the cheques of the petitioner/accused have been forcibly taken away by one Meena Pandi, for which, complainant was also lodged and the cheques, which were forcibly taken have been misused through the respondent/complainant and different others under the provisions of the NI Act - HELD THAT:- The cheque [ExP1] belongs to the petitioner and the same has not been denied. The cheque [ExP1] was presented for collection by the respondent/ complainant on 16.09.2010 and the same was returned with an endorsement 'account closed'. The respondent issued statutory notice dated 13.10.2010 and the same was returned unserved as 'unclaimed' and hence, the complaint was filed - Since the issuance of cheque [ExP1] is admitted, the presumption under Section 139 of the Negotiable Instruments Act is attracted. To discharge the presumption, the petitioner / accused has examined himself as DW1 and examined his father as DW2. ExR1 to ExR19 were also marked before the Court, to rebut the presumption. The case of the petitioner/accused is that the account in Kotak Mahindra Bank was maintained at Adayar Branch as a salary account, when he was working in a Call Centre at Chennai and the said account was closed a long ago. The petitioner/accused neither knew the complainant nor borrowed any money. His father DW2, borrowed money from one Meena Pandi and in that transaction, the petitioner/accused had given two blank cheques to the said Meena Pandi. According to the petitioner/accused, the said loan transaction with Meena Pandi was fully discharged. However, Meena Pandi demanded more interest and refused to return the blank cheques, which were given to him by his father as a collateral security - DW2 lodged a complaint to the Superintendent of Police, Thanjavur as well as to the Chief Minister's Cell on 03.01.2011 against the said Meena Pandi. One of the said blank cheques has been misused by the said Meena Pandi, through his friend/ complainant and other Binamis. The trial Court also found that the cheque number of this ExP1 has not been mentioned in the said complaints [ExR1 and ExR2] and the statutory notice in this case was issued on 13.10.2010 and this complaint was made only on 03.01.2011. Considering all these points, the contention of the petitioner/accused was rightly rejected the Courts below - Though the petitioner has attempted to rebut the presumption, he was not successful in rebutting the presumption and as pointed out by the learned Counsel for the respondent/complainant that the service of notice is sufficient in this case. The criminal revision case is partly allowed - conviction rendered by the learned Judicial Magistrate [Fast Track Court at Magestrial Level], Thanvur is confirmed.
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