SANJEEV KUMAR Vs. GURCHARAN SINGH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The instant petition has been filed by the petitioner-accused under Sec. 397 read with Sec. 401 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (for short 'Cr.P.C.') against the judgment dtd. 31/12/2022, passed by the learned Additional Sessions Judge-I, Una, District Una, H.P., in Criminal Appeal No. 13 of 2022, whereby the appeal filed by the petitioner-accused against judgment of conviction, dtd. 18/1/2022, and order of sentence, dtd. 19/1/2022, in Complaint Case No. 251-I-2016/279-II-2016, passed by learned Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate, Court No. 1, Una, District Una, H.P., was affirmed.

(2.) The brief facts, giving rise to the present petition, can succinctly be summarized as under:

(3.) The complainant-Gurcharan Singh and accused- Sanjeev Kumar had friendly relations with each other and during the second week of January, 2016, the accused borrowed Rs.1,00,000.00 from the complainant to meet his business and domestic requirements. The accused assured the complainant to return the aforesaid amount in 2-3 months and in order to liquidate his financial liability towards the complainant, the accused issued cheque, bearing No. 585588, dtd. 6/5/2016, amounting to Rs.1,00,000.00, drawn at Canara Bank, Branch Una, in favour of the complainant. However, the aforesaid cheque, on being presented twice for encashment, was dishonored with remarks 'funds insufficient'. Thereafter, on 19/8/2016, the complainant issued a legal notice to the accused demanding his money, but the accused failed to make the payment. Subsequently, the complainant filed a complaint under Sec. 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act (hereinafter, for the sake of brevity, referred to as the 'NI Act') before the learned Trial Court.