GOVIND RAM SINGHAL Vs. GOVT. NCT OF DELHI

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The present petition seeking leave to appeal arising out of the final judgment dtd. 30/6/2022 passed by the learned Metropolitan Magistrate (N.I. Act), Digital Court-06 (South District), Saket Courts, New Delhi in Complaint Case No.399/2021, has been filed by the petitioner/ complainant(herein referred as "petitioner") seeking setting aside of the said judgement.

(2.) In a nutshell, the complaint was filed alleging that the respondent no.2/ accused(herein referred as the "respondent no.2") approached the petitioner asking for Rs.80,000.00 (Rupees Eighty Thousand Only), which was given to respondent no.2 on the same date. The respondent no.2 then issued a cheque bearing no.697324 dtd. 24/11/2020 drawn on State Bank of India, Sangam Vihar, New Delhi110062 in favour of the petitioner, however, upon presentation of the said cheque, the same was returned for the reason "payment stopped by the drawer" vide Return Memo dtd. 26/11/2020.

(3.) Thereafter, though the petitioner sent a Legal Notice dtd. 14/12/2020, no payment was made within the stipulated 15 days by the respondent no.2. This led to the petitioner filing a complaint under Sec. 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881(herein referred as "NI Act") before the said learned Metropolitan Magistrate. The learned Metropolitan Magistrate dismissed the said complaint after recording the evidence by the parties and after hearing the final arguments, preliminarily holding that the said loan transaction was not reflected in the Income Tax Returns of the petitioner. Learned Metropolitan Magistrate further found that the respondent no.2 was able to rebut the presumption of Sec. 118 read with Sec. 139 of the NI Act and without the aid of the presumption thereunder, even though it was the duty of the petitioner to prove his case beyond reasonable doubt, he failed to do so.