Noida: A special court under the Negotiable Instruments Act sentenced a Hapur man to two years’ imprisonment and fined him Rs 15 lakh for failing to repay a loan.The man had borrowed Rs 9.2 lakh in cash on Nov 9, 2016, a day after Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes were demonetised. The cheques that he issued to the moneylender were dishonoured. He later refused repayment, arguing that he would not have accepted a loan in illegal currency. The court, however, rejected his logic and ordered him to return Rs 14.75 lakh to the lender and deposit Rs 25,000 in the state treasury.The case stems from a complaint filed by Rajpal against Manoj Kumar Kashyap at the Sector 49 police station under Section 138 (dishonour of cheque for insufficiency of funds in the account) of the NI Act. He told the cops that he worked as a tailor in Naya Bans village in Sector 15 and had known Kashyap for nearly two years. On Nov 9, 2016, Rajpal gave a loan of Rs 9.2 lakh in cash. A day earlier, the Centre had denotified currency notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000.They signed an agreement under which Kashyap issued five cheques worth Rs 9.2 lakh from his account, allowing Rajpal to deposit them and recover the money if Kashyap failed to repay it by March 30 next year.Kashyap then requested him to deposit the cheques at the end of April that year. So, he deposited them on May 29 and 30, but the cheques were returned with a note from the bank, ‘payment stopped by drawer.’ When he was informed of this, Kashyap refused to pay the amount.Rajpal then sent notices to Kashyap on June 23 and 24, 2017, to which he did not respond, following which a complaint case was filed in the court on July 14, the same year. Rajpal presented the cheques of different values, deposit receipts, return memos, copies of both notices and postal receipt on file. He also submitted a copy of the contract and a copy of the bank statement along with an affidavit in the court.The court issued an order on Dec 8, 2022, summoning Kashyap for trial. He appeared in court and secured his bail. His statement was recorded, in which he claimed that he did not borrow money from Rajpal and never issued any cheques. He told the court that a few cheques had been stolen from his shop, and he had informed the bank about the same.“Why will I accept money in demonetized currency and then pay for it?” Kashyap argued before the court, stressing that Rajpal had stolen cheques from his shop and presented them at the bank. However, he did not file a complaint of the cheque theft and had only informed the bank. He, however, failed to produce any evidence of intimating the bank about cheques being stolen.“No other specific argument has been advanced by the accused. Thus, the plaintiff’s evidence fully establishes the case, and the charges leveled against the accused are fully proven. Therefore, the accused is worthy of conviction,” special judge Suresh Chandra said.
