SOMNATH Vs. MOHINDER SINGH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Learned counsel for the appellant by filing the present appeal, under Sec. 378(4) Cr.P.C, has assailed the judgment and order dtd. 25/8/2023, passed by the Judicial Magistrate Ist Class, Karnal, dismissing the complaint and acquitting the respondent-accused therein of the charges framed against him under Sec. 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act (for short ' the Act').

(2.) Factual Matrix of the case leading to the filing of present petition unfolds as that appellant-complainant and respondent-accused were known to each other and in the month of April, 2017, the respondent-accused got booked the ticket of the son of the appellant-complainant for Singapore on giving the assurance that the respondent-accused and his associate namely Sanjeev Sharma are authorised agents and has already settled 20-30 persons abroad. Thereafter, on being convinced, appellant-complainant, in the month of June 2017 at Karnal paid Rs.7,36,000.00 to respondent-accused for sending his son and Sunil Kumar(his relative) to Ukraine for work permit and for that purpose, in the month of July 2017, original passport and other relevant documents such as Id's etc were given to the respondent-accused and Sanjeev Sharma. Thereafter, the respondent-accused informed that Visa in the name of the son of the complainant and Sunil Kumar has been approved and as a result both went to the Airport. But unfortunately, only Sunil Kumar was allowed to board the flight and he too was sent back by the Ukraine authorities after three days.

(3.) It was later admitted by the respondent-accused in the Panchayat that there were some infirmities in the documents which were not completed by him and also requested that he would get the same corrected and as solution to that, suggested that to obtain work permit, one has to have a travel history and as a result appellant-complainant, the son of the appellant-complainant and Sunil Kumar went to travel Thailand and in April 2018, a Panchayat was conveyed at Village Dabri, District Kandal, in which the respondent-accused and Sanjeev Sharma admitted that they have received Rs.7,36,000.00 and promised to return the same.