ORDER

The petitioner is the accused in C.C.No.966/2016 on the files of the Judicial First Class Magistrate Court-VII, Kochi arising from Crime No.653/2015 of Maradu Police Station, Ernakulam. The above case is charge sheeted against the petitioner alleging offences punishable under Sections 13 and 17 of the Kerala Money Lenders Act read with Section 3 of the Kerala Prohibition of Charging Exorbitant Interest Act.

Annexure A1 is the F.I.R and Annexure A2 is the final report.

2. The allegation against the petitioner is that he had advanced a loan of Rs.3,50,00/- during February, 2012 to the defacto complainant. It is further alleged that an amount of Rs.24,500/- was paid as interest until May, 2015. Further, the defacto complainant claims that inclusive of an amount of Rs.1,00,000/- that was repaid towards principal, she had paid an amount of Rs.5,83,000/- to the petitioner. Therefore, it is alleged that the petitioner committed the offences under the provisions of the Kerala Money Lenders Act read with Kerala Prohibition of Charging Exorbitant Interest Act. Hence, this Criminal Miscellaneous Case. According to the petitioner, even if the entire allegations are accepted, no offence is