Pune News: Man sentenced to 3.5 months in jail for bounced cheque

21 August 2024

A man who borrowed Rs. 3 lakh from a friend in 2017 issued a cheque for repayment, but the cheque bounced. Consequently, a case was filed against him for the bounced cheque. He is now required to pay the amount along with compensation and serve three and a half months in prison. The case was presided over by Judicial Magistrate First Class AA Pandey. In this case, the complainant, Bapu Nathu Akhade, initiated the proceedings through his lawyers, Adv. Shiom Pandit and Adv. Bipin Devarkar. The convicted individual is Rahul Nivritti Gunjal, who resides in Narhe. The court instructed the Sinhagad Road police to arrest Gunjal and transfer him to Yerwada Jail. 

On April 15, the court sentenced Gunjal to three months in prison and ordered him to pay the complainant, Bapu Nathu Akhade, Rs. 2.9 lakh. Additionally, the court stated that if the fine was not paid, Gunjal would face an extra 15 days of simple imprisonment.

The court allowed the accused 30 days to file an appeal against the sentence, and the implementation of the sentence would be paused until the appeal period ended. However, Gunjal failed to compensate for the loss and did not appear in court on May 16 as required. He filed an appeal to the sessions court, but the magistrate’s order remained in effect.

Magistrate Pandey remarked, “As of today, the convict has filed an appeal with a delayed condonation application. Therefore, the decision regarding the suspension of the sentence is now within the court’s jurisdiction. It has already been two months, which is the designated period for filing an appeal against this court’s conviction judgment. For these two reasons, this court no longer has the authority to grant any suspension of the sentence.”