A Delhi court has maintained six months’ imprisonment to a man in a cheque bounce case, rejecting his contention that he had not taken any loan from the complainant.
According to the complaint filed by Nitika Khurana, she had given a loan of ₹6 lakh to accused Deepak Kumar Chakraborty through a cheque in October 2009.
Post-dated cheque
At the time of the agreement, the accused had issued a post-dated cheque for ₹6 lakh in her favour. However, when the cheque, on the direction of the accused, was presented to the bank concerned, it was returned unpaid with the remarks “funds insufficient”, the complaint claimed.
Thereafter, the complainant, after going through the mandatory preliminary legal process, filed a complaint in the court of a Metropolitan Magistrate under the Negotiable Instruments Act for recovery of the loan amount. The Magistrate court held the accused guilty and asked him to pay a compensation of ₹8.4 lakh to the complainant. The court also imposed a fine of ₹10,000 on Chakraborty. The court directed that in case of default on payment of the fine and the compensation, the accused shall undergo simple imprisonment for six months.
The accused had challenged his conviction and sentence in the court of Additional Sessions Judge Sanjeev Kumar, submitting, among other things, that he did not owe the money as claimed by the respondents as this had been an investment in the stock market and not a loan. Dismissing his argument, the judge said: “I am of the view that the trial court has rightly convicted and sentenced the appellant. Hence, appeal is dismissed.”
