Daijiworld Media Network - Mangalore (SP)

Mangalore, Jan 2: In a landmark ruling, the district sessions court here has absolved an accused of all the charges, in a cheque bounce case filed against him by the Future Finance Corporation in the city. The court said, that in the cheque bounce cases, the complainant has to necessary produce independent  evidence of debt, in addition to the cheque itself.

In a case filed by the managing partner of M/s Future Finace Corporation M Balasubrahmanya Bhat against Prathviraj Jain, it was contended that Jain had failed to pay back the loan he raised from the firm to the tune of Rs 45 lac. The finance company said, that a cheque for the said amount issued by the accused on Syndicate Bank in the year 2003 was returned dishonoured for want of funds in the account. Hence he had prayed for a decree against the accused.

Earlier, the JMFC court, in the same case, had held the accused guilty of the charges framed against him and asked him to pay the entire sum of Rs 45 lac and face imprisonment in case of failure to pay up.

The accused had appealed to the district sessions case against the said verdict. He said that the accounts of his cashew industry in Udupi were audited by V V Sharma and Comapny which is owned by the complainant Balasubrahmanya Bhat. Even the cheque book of his firm was with Bhat for audit purposes, he explained. He also charged Bhat with fradulently using his blank cheque by showing Bhat’s own finance company as payee.

The sessions court noted, that the complainant firm had filed to support its claim that the accused was indebted to it. Other than the cheque in question, no other evidence, not even the loan account extracts, had been produced in the court, it noted. As such, the case is being dismissed for want of conclusive evidence to the effect that the accused was actually indebted to the finance company, the court observed. Advocate P P Hegde had appeared on behalf of the accused in the case.