KOTTAYAM: Former Works Minister and India Vision chairman M K Muneer and two others were sentenced to undergo a simple imprisonment of one day each and pay a compensation of Rs 25 lakh, in a cheque bounce case, by the chief judicial magistrate court here on Saturday.
On default of payment of the compensation amount, Muneer and company secretary S Yogendranath and resident editor Jamaludeen Farooq, the other accused in the case, have to undergo a two-month additional simple imprisonment, the court ordered.
CJM Ameer Ali pronounced the verdict in a criminal miscellaneous petition filed by Mathew Alex Vellappally, managing partner of the Vellappally Brothers, a prominent construction firm.
The case has its origin in Muneer borrowing a sum of Rs 25 lakh from Mathew Alex Vellappally, as a loan, while floating India Vision.
He was Works Minister then, while coughing up funds for the fledgling the private visual channel.
When the amount was demanded back by the complainant, a cheque was issued on behalf of India Vision Satellite Communications Pvt Ltd, dated March 2, 2006 of the Federal Bank, D H Road, Kochi, was given.
But it couldn’t be encashed for want of funds in the account. The cheque was recorded as bounced on March 13, 2006.
The matter was taken up by Mathew Alex in a legal route, eventually leading to the verdict.
His case was led by counsels Suresh Babu Thomas and Vineeth Jacob Varghese in the CJM court.
