A. S. Pachhapure , J.—The appellant has challenged the Judgment and Order of the Court below, granting acquittal of the respondents for the charge under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act [hereinafter called as â‚Å“The Actâ‚ for short].

2. The facts relevant for the purpose of this appeal are as under:

The appellant submitted a complaint before the trial Court stating that towards discharge of the liability due and payable, the respondents issued a cheque bearing No. 146532 dated 15.07.2003 for a sum of Rs. 6,00,000-00 drawn on Central Bank, Bangalore, in the name of the appellant with a premise that on presentation of the said cheque on the due date, the same will be honoured. The presentation of the cheque was postponed on number of occasions on the request of the respondents and finally, when the appellant presented/that cheque through the banker i.e., the Syndicate Bank, Shanthinagar, Bangalore, it returned with an endorsement as accounts closed.

The cheque was signed by the respondents 2 and 3 on behalf of respondent No. l, which is a firm and respondent No. 2 is the Managing Partner and respondent No.3 is the partner of the 1st respondent firm. Thus, the ap