Srinagar court awards Rs 1.44 Cr fine, 1- year jail in cheque bounce case
Srinagar, Feb 12: A court here Thursday sentenced a property dealer from Budgam to one- year simple imprisonment after convicting him in a cheque bounce case.
Chief Judicial Magistrate Srinagar, Ms Tabasum, also imposed a fine of Rs 1,44,00,000- equivalent to double the cheque amount- on the convict, Shafiq Ahmad Sheikh of Najan Beerwah, Budgam.
One Muhammad Yaseen Mir through advocate Marouf Khan had filed the complaint under Sections 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act wherein he alleged that the accused, Shafiq Ahmad Sheikh had cheated him in a land deal at Dodpathri in District Budgam.
The accused, who had close family relations with the complainant and was engaged in property dealings, assured the complainant in 2018 that he would arrange over five kanals of land at Dodpathri, a tourist and health resort area, according to the complaint. Trusting the accused, the complainant paid Rs 72 lakh in several instalments.
However, when the promised revenue extracts (Intikhab-e-Jamabandi) were not provided, the complainant made independent inquiries and allegedly found that the accused Sheikh had no authority over the land. On being confronted, the accused issued a cheque for Rs 72 lakh towards discharge of liability.
When the complainant presented the cheque at Ellaquai Dehati Bank, Lawaypora, the same was returned unpaid on February 18, 2021, with the remark “Insufficient Funds.”
During trial, the accused denied the allegations and claimed that a blank signed cheque had been misused. However, the court observed that once the execution and signature on the cheque were admitted, statutory presumptions arose in favour of the complainant. The court held that the accused failed to rebut these presumptions and termed the defence of misuse of a blank cheque as a bald assertion unsupported by evidence.
The court found that all essential ingredients of Section 138 of the NI Act—issuance of cheque, dishonour for insufficiency of funds, service of statutory notice, and failure to pay within the prescribed period—stood proved.
Accordingly, the accused was convicted and sentenced to one year of simple imprisonment. He was also directed to pay a fine of Rs 1.44 crore, double the cheque amount, as mandated under law.
The court directed the concerned SHO to arrest the accused and lodge him in Central Jail Srinagar forthwith. It also ordered issuance of a levy warrant to the District Collector Budgam for recovery of the fine amount through attachment and execution against the movable and immovable properties of the accused.
