Chennai: A Fast Track Court here has convicted a relative of a retired Supreme Court judge in a cheque bounce case and he was sentenced to undergo six months simple imprisonment. Following a request from the counsel for the accused, the court kept in abeyance the operation of the order to enable him to prefer an appeal.
FTC-III Judge B Santosh convicted Kumar and directed him to pay Rs 20 lakh compensation to complainant K C Raveedran within two months. According to Raveendran, he had lent Rs 1.20 crore to Kumar and when he insisted on repayment in October, 2016, Kumar had issued six cheques for Rs 20 lakh each.
However, when the cheques were presented for realisation, the bank returned them all with the note "insufficient funds", in January, 2017. Hence, the present petition for a direction to punish Kumar under the Negotiable instruments Act.
The judge observed that by executing six promissory notes while borrowing the money and by issuing six cheques to discharge his legally enforceable debt to the complainant, the accused has admitted his liability. The presumption stands in favour of the complainant. The accused is liable to be punished for the offences under the Negotiable Instruments Act, the judge said and imposed the sentence. (PTI)
