BENGALURU: The Karnataka High Court confirmed the orders passed by the trial court convicting former MLA MP Kumaraswamy in eight cheque dishonour cases and sentencing him to pay Rs 1.38 crore to the complainant, failing which he will have to undergo a simple imprisonment of six months in each case.
Justice M Nagaprasanna dismissed all the appeals filed by Kumaraswamy on March 4.
He moved the high court, questioning the orders passed by a special court on July 19, 2023, confirming the orders of conviction and sentence passed by the magistrate on February 13, 2023, for the offences punishable under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act. The complainant, HR Huvappa Gowda, a resident of Chikkamagaluru City, filed the complaint against the accused Kumaraswamy in 2021.
The counsel for Kumaraswamy contended that both the trial courts have ignored the fact that the complainant possesses a BPL ration card, which is given to families who have an income of less than Rs 1.25 lakh per annum.
If the complainant was not in a capacity to lend huge sums of money and possesses a BPL ration card, the counsel submitted that the entire transaction between the two is a sham. The cheques given by the petitioner for different collateral purposes are misused by the complainant, he argued.
The counsel for the complainant submitted that the BPL card was secured by the wife without informing the complainant. The moment the complainant came to know, the BPL card was cancelled long before the transaction. He vehemently refuted the submissions, contending that these very submissions were urged before the concerned courts.
The Magistrate has convicted the accused and said conviction is affirmed in the appeal before the sessions court again by a detailed order. These concurrent findings can be interfered with in the revisional jurisdiction only if the orders are perverse or lacking in jurisdiction, he argued.