LOKSUNDARAM SARVAAN Vs. STATE OF GUJARAT

JUDGEMENT

(1.) By way of this application filed under Sec. 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, the applicants have prayed to quash and set aside the private criminal complaint being Criminal Case No. 58 of 2019 filed before the Court of learned Chief Judicial Magistrate, Jam Khambaliya under Sec. 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881 (for short, "the NI Act ") and all consequential proceedings initiated in pursuance thereof.

(2.) The applicants herein, who are original accused Nos.2 to 6, are the Directors of a private limited company named "Agrocrops Axim Limited", which is engaged in the business of purchase and sale of Groundnut Oil. The Head Office of the Company is stated to be at Chennai.

(3.) The respondent No.2 herein, original complainant, is a proprietary firm engaged in the business of production of Groundnuts. On 1/1/2019 respondent No.2 herein filed a criminal complaint against the applicant- Company (original accused No.1) and its Directors (original accused Nos.2 to 6) as also the authorized signatory of applicant No.1-Company (original accused No.7) under Sec. 138 of the NI Act, which was numbered as Criminal Case No.58 of 2019 before the Court of learned Chief Judicial Magistrate, Jam Khambaliya, inter alia alleging that the Purchase Department of applicant No.1-Company had purchased different quantities of Groundnuts from the respondent-complainant at different times and towards such purchases, the applicant-Company had issued three different cheques, viz. (i) dtd. 16/8/2018 for Rs.11,89,652.00 (ii) dtd. 20/8/2018 for Rs.11,19,604.00 and (iii) dtd. 20/8/2018 for Rs.9,59,814.00, totalling Rs.32,69,070.00 in favour of the respondent-complainant. When the respondent-complainant deposited the said cheques in the Bank on 24/10/2018, the same were returned with the endorsement of "insufficient funds". On 20/11/2018 statutory Notice was issued to the applicant-Company. It is the say of the respondent- complainant that after the issuance of statutory notice, the applicant- Company deposited Rs.7,00,000.00 in the account of respondent- complainant. However, as the applicants had not repaid the entire outstanding amount, the impugned complaint u/s. 138 of the NI Act came to be filed against the applicants. Being aggrieved by the same, the present application has been preferred.