1. The applicant in all these applications has been impleaded as an accused in the complaint filed by respondent no.2 for offence punishable under Section 138 of Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881 (`N.I. Act' for short). The applicant has invoked the inherent powers of this Court under Section 482 of Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (`Cr. P.C.' for short) and challenged the proceedings in the said complaints filed by respondent no.2 and the order dated 7th October 2015 passed by learned Metropolitan Magistrate, 58th Court, at Bandra, Mumbai. The complaints which are subject matter of present applications, were numbered as CC No.502/SS/2002, CC No.503/SS/2002 and CC No.524/SS/2002. The facts in all the complaints are identical.

2. Brief facts, as alleged in one of the complaint, viz CC No.502/SS/2002, are as follows:

(a) The accused is the Vice Chairman and Managing Director of the company known as M/s. Harvest Financials Limited registered under the Companies Act, 1956. The accused under the scheme of investments collected various amounts from various persons in the form of loans and in consideration of collecting such amounts, has given post dated cheques either in personal