K K SIDHARTHAN Vs. T P PRAVEENA CHANDRAN

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Respondent No. 1, hereinafter referred to as the respondent, filed a complaint against the appellant under Section 138 read with Section 149 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881 (for short the 'Act') and Section 420 of the IPC read with Sections 190 and 200 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. The gravamen of the allegation is that the petitioner had issued two post-dated cheques dated 10.10.1994 and 31.12.1994, each for a sum of Rs. 3,00,000/- drawn on Indian Overseas Bank, Trichur Branch. But on the cheques being presented, the same were returned unpaid on 15.10.1994 with the endorsement "Payment countermanded by the drawer". The complaint further stated that the cheques were returned unpaid for want of sufficient funds in the account. The appellant approached the High Court of Kerala for quashing the complaint but the High Court refused to do so. Hence this appeal.

(2.) The main part of Section 138 of the Act reads as below:

(3.) The case of the appellant is that the cheques were returned, not because of insufficient funds, but because he had issued stop memo to the bank for reasons detailed in the letter of appellant's Advocate dated 4.10.1994 addressed to the respondent. This letter was replied by the respondent on 12.10.1994 stating, inter alia, that the allegations made in the letter of 4.10.1994 were not true; and date and place may be fixed for perusal of the accounts and connected records. The appellant has produced a communication of the Indian Overseas Bank, Thrissur Branch, which is at page 64 of the Paper Book, showing that when the cheques in question were presented there was sufficient balance in the account of the appellant. This communication bears the numbers of two cheques which tally with those mentioned in the complaint. We are, therefore, satisfied that the cheques were not returned because of insufficient funds, as is the allegation in the complaint.