Grocer sentenced to four months imprisonment

Dishonouring of cheque and not paying debt

Aurangabad, June 1:

First class magistrate SS Manjarekar sentenced the accused grocery shopkeeper Rameshwar Hole to four months imprisonment and slapped a fine of Rs 10,000 under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, for dishonouring of cheque given as a payment of debt to complainant Adarsh Dairy Products. The court also ordered the accused to pay Rs 1.71 lakh as compensation to the plaintiff within one month.

The petition was filed by the director of the Adarsh dairy Anil Ambadas Mankape Patil through adv SB Rakshale alleging that the accused Hole owned a grocery shop. He had been buying milk from the dairy on credit since 2016. As per the record book, there was a debt of Rs 1.77 lakh due from the accused till January 2018. On February 2, 2018, the accused handed over a cheque of Rs 1.71 lakh of TJSB bank to the dairy. The cheque was deposited in Adarsh Mahila Nagri Sahakari Bank. However, the bank returned the cheque saying that the account was closed. Therefore, a notice was sent to the accused through the dairy. Despite receiving the notice, the accused did not pay the cheque amount to the plaintiff within the prescribed time. So a complaint was lodged. During the hearing adv Rakshale presented judgements in other courts, including the Supreme Court, in support of his argument. After the hearing, the court gave the above orders.