K.N. SHIVAKUMAR Vs. KRISHNAMURTHY M.

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner has challenged the concurrent judgment of conviction convicting the petitioner for an offence punishable under Sec. 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881 (henceforth referred to as ' N.I. Act ' for short) and consequent sentence.

(2.) The facts in brief are that the respondent had advanced a hand loan of Rs.1,70,000.00 to the petitioner during the second week of May, 2014 and that the petitioner had passed on a post-dated cheque dtd. 13/8/2014. This cheque was dishonoured as the account was closed by the petitioner. The respondent therefore, caused a notice of demand which was not complied and this compelled the respondent to initiate proceedings for prosecution of the petitioner for the offence punishable under Sec. 138 of N.I. Act. The sworn statement of the respondent was recorded and the case was registered as C.C.No.1721/2015. The Trial Court recorded the plea of the petitioner who claimed that he was innocent and prayed that he be tried. Consequently, the respondent was examined as PW.1 and he marked Exs.P1 to P4. The statement of the petitioner under Sec. 313 of Cr.P.C. was recorded. However, the petitioner did not lead any evidence.

(3.) Based on the oral and documentary evidence, the Trial Court held that the cheque was duly drawn by the petitioner and that the cheque was dishonoured with an endorsement "Account Closed", which was also punishable under Sec. 138 of N.I. Act. Consequently, it convicted the petitioner for the offence punishable under Sec. 138 of N.I. Act and sentenced him to pay a fine of Rs.2,20,000.00 and ordered that the sum of Rs.2,15,000.00 be paid as compensation to the respondent. Being aggrieved by the said judgment of conviction and sentence, the petitioner filed Criminal Appeal No.1283/2016, which was dismissed.