Gujarat High Court
Tripoli Management Pvt. Ltd. Through ... vs State Of Gujarat on 4 August, 2025
NEUTRAL CITATION
R/CR.MA/3501/2024 ORDER DATED: 04/08/2025
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IN THE HIGH COURT OF GUJARAT AT AHMEDABAD
R/CRIMINAL MISC.APPLICATION (FOR LEAVE TO APPEAL) NO. 3501 of
2024
In F/CRIMINAL APPEAL NO. 3429 of 2024
With
F/CRIMINAL APPEAL NO. 3429 of 2024
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TRIPOLI MANAGEMENT PVT. LTD. THROUGH JIGNESH PRAFFULBHAI
THAKAR
Versus
STATE OF GUJARAT & ORS.
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Appearance:
MR KISHAN N BRAHMBHATT(11382) for the Applicant(s) No. 1
MR ABID R. PATHAN for MR VIRAL M PANDYA(5257) for the Respondent(s)
No. 2,3
MR ROHAN N. SHAH, APP for the Respondent(s) No. 1
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CORAM:HONOURABLE MS. JUSTICE S.V. PINTO
Date : 04/08/2025
ORAL ORDER
1. The present application is filed by the applicant - original complainant seeking leave to file an appeal against the judgment and order of Acquittal dated 25.08.2023 passed by the Special Negotiable Instruments Act Court, Ghee Kanta, Ahmedabad (hereinafter referred to as the "learned Trial Court") in Criminal Case No. 164158/2021, whereby, the learned Trial Court was pleased to acquit the respondent Nos. 2 and 3 from the offence under Section 138 of Negotiable Instrument Act, 1881 (hereinafter referred to as "the NI Act" for short).
2. Heard learned advocate Mr. Kishan N. Brahmbhatt for Page 1 of 4 Uploaded by MAYA S. CHAUHAN(HC01402) on Tue Aug 05 2025 Downloaded on : Tue Aug 05 22:42:51 IST 2025 NEUTRAL CITATION R/CR.MA/3501/2024 ORDER DATED: 04/08/2025 undefined the applicant, Mr. Abid R. Pathan, learned advocate for Mr. Viral M, Pandya, learned advocate for the respondents No.2 & 3 and learned APP Mr. Rohan N. Shah for the respondent
- State.
3. Learned advocate Mr. Kishan N. Brahmbhatt for the applicant submits that the respondent nos. 2 and 3 had taken an amount of Rs.11,19,525/- from the applicant Company and an amount of Rs. 7,47,587/- was outstanding and a recall notice dated 23.09.2021 was given to the respondent Nos.1, 2 and 3. The respondent No.2 had issued a cheque No. 000036 dated 12.10.2021 for Rs.7,47,589/- from his account with The Karnavati Co-operative Bank Ltd. and the cheque was deposited by the applicant in their account but the same was returned unpaid with the endorsement "Fund Insufficient". The demand statutory notice was given but no reply was filed and the amount was not paid within the stipulated period and hence the applicant filed a criminal complaint u/s. 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act before the Court of the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, Ahmedabad, which came to be registered as Criminal Case No. 164158/2021. The learned Trial Court was pleased to take cognizance and issue summons to the respondent Nos.2 and 3 and the respondent Nos.2 and 3 appeared and the plea was recorded and thereafter the applicant stepped into the witness Page 2 of 4 Uploaded by MAYA S. CHAUHAN(HC01402) on Tue Aug 05 2025 Downloaded on : Tue Aug 05 22:42:51 IST 2025 NEUTRAL CITATION R/CR.MA/3501/2024 ORDER DATED: 04/08/2025 undefined box and filed the affidavit of examination-in-chief at Exh.-4 and produced 14 documentary evidences in support of his case. After the closing pursis was filed by the learned advocate for the applicant, during the further statement recorded under section 313 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, the respondents Nos.2 and 3 mainly took a defense that the authority letter did not give the authority to file the complaint and the loan was taken and did not remember the promissory note and did not execute it. After the arguments of the learned parties were heard, the learned trial Court by the impugned judgment and order was pleased to acquit the respondents No.2 and 3 from the offence under section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act mainly on the ground that the cheque was more than the amount of the dues outstanding and the same was not proved by the applicant and that the cheque was not issued legally and in a proper prospective. Learned advocate submits that from the oral and documentary evidences, the applicant had proved the case beyond the reasonable doubts and that the cheque was issued legally but the trial Court has not considered the same. Learned advocate also submits that the loan statement is produced on record at Exh.14 and the facility agreement at Exh.13 and also the application for loan at Exh.10 and the loan sanction letter at Exh.11 but the same were not considered in proper prospective by the learned Trial Court Page 3 of 4 Uploaded by MAYA S. CHAUHAN(HC01402) on Tue Aug 05 2025 Downloaded on : Tue Aug 05 22:42:51 IST 2025 NEUTRAL CITATION R/CR.MA/3501/2024 ORDER DATED: 04/08/2025 undefined and the impugned order came to be passed. The applicant has a good case on merits and hence the application seeking leave to appeal is required to be allowed.
4. Learned advocate Mr. Abid R. Pathan for Mr. Viral M, Pandya, learned advocate for the respondents No.2 & 3 and learned APP Mr. Rohan N. Shah jointly submitted that the learned trial Court has considered the documentary evidence in proper perspective and has passed impugned judgment and order of acquittal and hence the leave to appeal is not required to be granted.
5. Considering the submissions of learned advocate for the applicant as also on perusal of the paper book on record and the judgment and order of acquittal, prima facie, it appears that the documents have not been properly appreciated in proper perspective. In the peculiar facts and circumstances of the case in the considered opinion of this Court the application deserves to be considered. Consequently, the application seeking leave to appeal is granted and disposed off accordingly.
(S. V. PINTO,J) MAYA Page 4 of 4 Uploaded by MAYA S. CHAUHAN(HC01402) on Tue Aug 05 2025 Downloaded on : Tue Aug 05 22:42:51 IST 2025