A city magistrate court last Friday ordered a businessman to pay Rs. 15.60 crores to Ceat tyres in a cheque bounce case.
The court after convicting Sanjay Saha under the Negotiable Instruments Act sentenced him to suffer imprisonment till the rising of the court. If he defaults on paying the amount to the tyre manufacturing company he will have to serve a simple imprisonment term of six months, it ordered.
Saha, the proprietor of Jai Ambe Traders, had given a cheque of Rs. 10.40 Cr with his signature on it to Ceat Tyres on 3 January 2014 for products received from the company. The cheque was dishonoured and the company received the message from the bank that it 'exceeds arrangement'. Thereafter, the company sent a notice to Saha, which he received, but still did not make payment and hence the complaint was filed.
The court ordered one-and-a-half times the amount dishonoured in the cheque as penalty to be paid to Ceat.
Saha had stated before the court that the complaint against him was false. The cheque was given for an earlier deal, was misused and the complaint was filed. He denied having received any notice to pay the cheque amount. He was not bound to pay Ceat any amount he claimed in defence.
Metropolitan Magistrate Narendra Joshi said in his judgment that it is clear that the accused had paid the cheque for the products purchased from the Ceat and that he has not been able to prove to the contrary. The court further opined that the defence taken by the accused does not seem believable and hence is rejected.
