The presumption under Section 139 of the N.I. Act mandates that issued cheques are presumed to be for legally enforceable debts, which the accused must rebut with evidence.

ORDER :

Since no adverse orders have been passed by this Court, these revision petitions are taken up today for final disposal at the admission stage itself, without issuing any notice to the respondent.

2. The Criminal Revision Petitions are filed to set aside the impugned order dated 27.12.2024 made in Crl.M.P.Nos.73572 of 2024 in S.T.C.No.4869 of 2022, Crl.M.P.No.73568 of 2024 in S.T.C.No.4867 of 2022 and Crl.M.P.No.73573 of 2024 in S.T.C.No.4864 of 2022 by the learned Metropolitan Magistrate - Fast Track Court No.1, Allikulam, Egmore, Chennai.

3. The complaints under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act [hereinafter referred to as 'N.I.Act'] were instituted before the learned Metropolitan Magistrate - Fast Track Court No.1, Allikulam, Egmore, Chennai, by the respondent-complainant alleging that the petitioner-accused issued cheques bearing Nos.000559, 000560 and 000156 for Rs.3,00,00,000/-, Rs.3,00,00,000 and Rs.25,00,000/-, dated 20.12.2021, 20.12.2021 and 18.12.2021, respectively drawn on Karur Vysya Bank, Mugappair Branch, to partly discharge his liability, as per the Memorandum of Understanding entered into between the parties.

4. The case of the respondent-complainant is that, in the course of business, he tendered hand loans to the petitioner-accused for the purpose of purchasing properties and the same accumulated to a sum of Rs.6 Crores. While that being so, a sale agreement dated 21.11.2012 was entered into between the petitioner-accused and respondent-complainant with respect to the properties situated at S.Nos.127/10D, 127/16 Part and 127/15B part, in all, an extent of 1 acre 49 ½ cents situated at Maduravoyal Village, Thiruvallur District and by virtue of the agreement dated 18.03.2020, the petitioner handed over the possession of the said properties to the respondent and after repayment of aforesaid loan amount of Rs.6 Crores, it was agreed that the respondent has to hand over the possession of the properties back to the petitioner. Further, the petitioner-accused also agreed to pay the said amount within a period of 11 months from the date of execution of agreement and also agreed to pay a sum of Rs.1 Crore as interest/damages for the said loan amount. In lieu of the said undertaking, the petitioner-accused issued cheques bearing Nos.000559, 000560 and 000156 for Rs.3,00,00,000/-, Rs.3,00,00,000 and Rs.25,00,000/- dated 20.12.2021, 20.12.2021 and 18.12.2021, respectively, drawn on Karur Vysya Bank, Mugappair Branch to partly discharge his liability. When the respondent- complainant presented the cheques for collection, the same were returned with endorsement ''Account Closed'', ''Account Closed'' and ''Funds Insufficient'' on 21.12.2021, 21.12.2021 and 20.12.2021, respectively. Thereafter, the complainant issued statutory notice dated 08.02.2022 to the petitioner and the petitioner sent a reply notice dated 20.02.2022, but did not come forward to settle the amount and therefore, complaints were filed under Sections 138 and 141 of N.I.Act against the petitioner in S.T.C.Nos.4869, 4867 and 4864 of 2022, before the learned Metropolitan Magistrate - Fast Track Court No.1, Allikulam, Egmore, Chennai.

5. Learned counsel for the petitioner submitted that the petitioner never received the alleged huge amount of Rs.6 Crores from the respondent and the petitioner also never executed any agreement with the respondent. He further submitted that the respondent-complainant agreed to purchase the aforesaid properties and paid a sum of Rs.1,20,00,000/- as advance, but he failed to pay the balance consideration and got the transaction concluded and the petitioner had repaid a sum of Rs.80,00,000/- by cash as well as by cheques on different dates to the res