S.PRAVEENKUMA Vs. LENIN

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This Criminal Revision has been filed against the dismissal of the petition passed by the Judicial Magistrate No.I, Namakkal in C.M.P.No.1945 of 2021, C.C.No.302 of 2018, filed under Sec. 45 Indian Evidence Act, seeking to send the cheque for expert opinion.

(2.) The petitioner is an accused in C.C.No.302 of 2018, pending trial for the offence under Sec. 138 of Negotiable Instruments Act. The petitioner had filed the petition under Sec. 45 of Indian Evidence Act, in which, it has been stated that the complainant was examined in Chief and documents have been marked on the side of the complainant. Thereafter, one Raghu, S/o.,Karuppanan has been examined as defence witness and three other witnesses have been summoned as defence witnesses. The witnesses who have received the summons avoided to appear before the Court, since they have colluded with the complainant. The petitioner had further submitted that though the signature in the cheque is admitted, the other entries in the cheque were not filled by him and thereby, he had filed C.M.P.1945 of 2021 seeking to send the cheque for expert opinion to prove that the entries were not made by the petitioner/accused.

(3.) The respondent has filed a counter. In the counter, he had stated that the accused had not sent any reply to the legal notice, denying that the contents were not filled by him and that after cognizance, during the initial questioning and during the time of questioning under Sec. 313(i) Cr.P.C, he had not stated anything with regard to the filling of the contents by someone else and that the petition had been filed only to protract the trial. Further, the respondent/complainant had also stated that as per Sec. 20 of the N.I. Act, when the signature is admitted, it is immaterial the entries are made by someone else.