R INDRASENA REDDY Vs. M PRABHAVATHI

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This appeal is directed against the acquittal of the accused in C.C.No.274 of 1999 by the I Additional Judicial I Class Magistrate, Warangal on 10.09.2004.

(2.) The appellant herein is the complainant and he has filed the complaint for the offence under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act (for short "the N.I. Act") against the respondent No.1 herein.

(3.) According to the complainant, he retired as Superintendent of Central Excise and after retirement he received Rs.3,00,000/- towards retirement benefits. The accused was working as teacher in Government Aided Andhra Balika High School and she is a colleague of the complainant's wife. The accused approached the complainant through his wife and obtained a hand loan of Rs.1,90,000/- for settlement of the debts of the son of the accused, which he incurred in the Frontier Computers Software Technology with a promise to repay the same within six months but in spite of several demands, the accused began dodging and it was very difficult to locate the accused at her residence and the complainant and his relative P.Dharma Reddy could locate her and on 26.10.1998 the accused in the presence of said Dharma Reddy gave a cheque bearing No.384351 drawn on State Bank of Hyderabad, Warangal Main Branch. The said cheque was deposited in the complainant's account but the same was returned on 02.11.1998 with an endorsement of insufficient funds and party reported to stop operations in the account. Thereafter, complainant contacted the accused on 19.11.1998 and the accused promised to instruct the bank and she will make efforts to deposit sufficient funds to clear the said cheque. So the complainant re-deposited the said cheque on 20.11.1998, again the said cheque was returned with the same endorsement. The accused with an intention to defraud complainant, was scheming to get her house bearing No.16-10-1338, situated at Shivanagar, Warangal conveyed in the name of her unmarried daughter and subsequently the complainant came to know that a lawyer's notice was appeared in Vaartha newspaper on 12.10.1998 with regard to transfer of said property in the name of her daughter. Immediately on 25.11.1998 a lawyer notice was sent to an advocate Chamanti Prabhakar Rao, which was served on him on 25.11.1998. Along with the said notice, a copy of the lawyer's notice dt.25.11.1998 addressed to the accused was sent to the said advocate with a request to inform the same to the accused. Thereafter the accused got issued a reply notice on 09.12.1998 to the counsel of the complainant. Hence, the accused has committed the offence punishable under Section 138 of the N.I. Act.