Hyderabad: Former BRS MLA Pilot Rohith Reddy was convicted in a Rs 34 lakh cheque bounce case by a local court on Friday under the Negotiable Instruments Act. As the accused was not present in the court at the time of pronouncement of the judgment, the court issued a non-bailable warrant against the accused.The first judicial magistrate of first class (municipal court), Hyderabad, Khushboo Upadhyay, delivered the verdict on Aug 7 in the cheque bounce case filed by an infrastructure firm, Intellidecs Private Ltd, through its representative against Rohith Reddy, a former director of the company in 2015.According to the complaint, as director of Intellidecs, he allegedly diverted company resources and personnel for personal business dealings, causing financial loss to the company.
As per the judgment, “after knowing about the fraud, and upon being questioned by the management of the company, the accused agreed to part with the advisory fees and tendered his resignation on Feb 7, 2014, as director of the company. There was an agreement to settle the claim. The accused agreed to pay Rs 34.23 lakh and executed an MoU on Aug 1, 2014. He issued a cheque for the said amount on Sept 25, 2014.”The cheque, however, was returned unpaid three times between Oct and Dec 2014 due to insufficient funds. A legal notice demanding payment was refused by Rohith Reddy, which led to the filing of a criminal complaint in 2015.During trial, the defence challenged the validity of certain documents, including the promissory note’s lack of witness signatures. It also claimed that signatures were obtained by the company from Rohith Reddy on a blank promissory note and cheque. The court rejected these arguments, holding that Rohith Reddy had not disputed his signatures on the key documents and failed to rebut the statutory presumption under sections 118 and 139 of the Negotiable Instruments Act favouring the cheque holder.The court found Rohith Reddy guilty under section 138 (dishonour of cheque for insufficiency of funds in the account) and convicted the accused.“The plea of guilty on conviction will be heard at the time of production of the accused, upon which the sentence shall be pronounced,” the court stated.
