Man awarded 3-yr jail for encashing forged cheque

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 11

A local court sentenced a man to three years in jail for presenting a forged cheque in a bank and receiving Rs 19.75 lakh.

Sandeep Kumar (32), a resident of Mohali, was found guilty by the court in the three-year-old case registered under Sections 420, 120B, 468 and 471 of the IPC.

On October 29, 2014, Hardev Singh, manager of Punjab National Bank, Sector 23, Chandigarh, submitted a police complaint wherein it was alleged that M/s Sai Property through Sandeep Kumar had a current account with their branch. On March 13, 2014, he presented a cheque for Rs 19.75 lakh for encashment/transfer of cheque amount in his account. During clearing, the drawee bank found the cheque genuine and encashed it.

However, three months later, the bank received information from the PNB Circle Office, Dehradun, that encashment of the cheque in question was a fraud as the instrument was not genuine.

Following the complaint, an FIR was lodged at the Sector 17 police station and Sandeep arrested.

During trial, it was found that the original cheque was unused and still in the possession of the account holder, Sheela Devi, from whose account the money had been withdrawn.

Sheela Devi, a resident of Dehradun, had approached the bank’s Dehradun branch and informed that Rs 19.75 lakh had been withdrawn from her account against a cheque she had in her possession.

Sheela Devi passed away during the trial and her son told the court that the signatures on the cheque were also forged as they did not belong to his mother.

The defence argued that neither was Sheela Devi available to be made witness, nor was her complaint to the Dehradun bank branch.

However, the court found Sandeep guilty under Sections 420 and 471 of the IPC. The court also imposed a fine of Rs 20,000 on the convict.