The admission of issuing a cheque creates a presumption under Section 139 of the N.I. Act, which must be rebutted by the accused to avoid liability.

JUDGMENT

(Prayer: Criminal Revision Case filed under Section 397 and 401 of Cr.P.C., to call for the order of the learned Judicial Magistrate - IV, Salem in S.T.C.No.971 of 2015 order dated 25.07.2017 and the order of Sessions Judge in Crl.A.No.101 of 2017 dated 27.11.2018 ought to be set aside and the petitioner be acquitted.)

1. The convicted accused is the revision petitioner herein.

2. The matter arises under Section 138 of Negotiable Instruments Act,1881.

3. The revision petitioner has been charged and tried for the offence under Section 138-A of Negotiable Instrument Act,1881 the respondent filed complaint under Section 200 of Criminal Procedure Code,1973 before the learned Judicial Magistrate No.IV, Salem in S.T.C.No.971 of 2015.

4. The brief facts of the case filed by the complainant/respondent is that:

(a) The appellant borrowed a sum of Rs.6,00,000/- (Rupees Six Lakhs Only) on 18.02.2015 from the complainant as a hand loan for his urgent family and business expenses and agreed to pay the amount in with interest at the rate of 18%. As per the accused''s request, the complainant had deducted 10 months interest i.e., Rs.90,000/- from the principal amount with a condition that the said Rs.90,000/- interest reduced will be adjusted for the 9th and 10th installment.

(b) Thus, the accused realized a sum of Rs.5,10,000/- by way of complainant Cheque No.565557 dated 18.02.2015 of Deutsche Bank, Salem as the same was honoured by the accused through bank process.

(c) To discharge the said debt and liability, the accused issued a cheque Nos.087331, 087332 and 087333 each for Rs.60,000/- dated 18.03.2015, 18.05.2015 respectively. All the said cheques were dishonoured when the complainant presented for collection into the complainant bank. In view of repeated demands, the appellant has volunteered to discharge the debt, he signed and issued the Ex.P1 cheque in favour of the complainant on 03.06.2015. The details of the cheque is cheque No.025463 for Rs.6,00,000/- and the same was drawn on State Bank of Hyderabad, Salem.

(d) As per the instruction of the petitioner/appellant, the respondent had presented the said cheque for collection into his bank Deutche Bank, Salem Branch, on 03.06.2015. But on 04.06.2015, the cheques was dishonoured as "Insufficient Funds". In pursuance of this, the respondent herein caused lawyer notice on 18.06.2015 and the same was returned on 29.06.2015 with an endorsement ''unclaimed'' by the appellant. The petitioner/appellant neither paid the cheque amount nor replied.

(e) The above said complaint filed by the respondent is taken into the file of learned Judicial Magistrate No.IV, Salem in STC.No.971 of 2015. The Lower Court, in course of trial, recorded the evidence and has delivered the judgment on convicting the appellant to undergo Simple Imprisonment for one year and to pay a compensation of Rs.6,00,000/- to the respondent within one month and with a default, sentence to undergo another 2 months Simple Imprisonment on 25.07.2017.

5. Aggrieved against the said order of conviction passed by the learned Judicial Magistrate No.IV, Salem in S.T.C.No.971 of 2015, the convicted accused has preferred Crl.A.No.101 of 2017 before the learned learned IIIrd Additional District and Sessions Judge and by an order dated 27.11.2018, the appeal was dismissed and hence the revision.

6. Heard the learned counsel appearing for the revision petitioner and the respondent.

7. On perusal of the lower Court records and the evidence of P.W.1 complainant, Exs.P1 and P5 were marked and on behalf of the defense side, no witness or oral witness has been adduced.

8. The accused had received Rs.5,10,000/- on 18.02.2015 after deducting interest payable for debt and issued Ex.P1 cheque dated 03.06.2015. When he presented Ex.P1 cheque in his account for collection on 03.06.2015, it was returned with an endorsement of ''insufficient fund''. He had issued a statutory notice under