- (1.) Inasmuch as common questions of fact and law are involved and as the parties well nigh are the same, these three criminal petitions can be disposed of together.
(2.) Three complaints were filed againstthe Chairman, Vice-Chairman and some of the Directors of the Jawahar Co-operative Urban Bank Limited under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act by M/s. Ramanjaneya Enterprises in C.C. No. 74 of 2002, M/s. Sri Venkateswara Finance in C.C.No. 75 of 2002, and Mrs. K. Rukmini in C.C.No. 76 of 2002, on the file of the XV Metropolitan Magistrate, Hyderabad.
(3.) Several gullible villagers invested theirhard earned monies under various fixed deposit receipts with the Jawahar Co-operative Urban Bank Limited, Dilsukhnagar, Rangareddy District, the accused, All of them instructed the Bank to remit the accrued monthly interest to M/s, Ramanjaneya Enterprises, the complainant in C.C.No. 74 of 2002. In discharge of that liability, it is said that the accused-bank issued four banker cheques each for Rs. 50,606/- dated 05-01-2001, 05-02-2001, 05-03-2001 and 05-04-2001. The Managing Partner of the complainant presented three out of four banker cheques with his Banker, State Bank of India, Bazarghat Branch, Hyderabad on 05-04-2001. They were returned with the endorsement "present again on 09-04-2001". The Manager of the accused Bank also wrote a letter to the complainant requesting him inter alia to present the cheques later on 09-04-2001. The complainant presented all the four banker cheques on 07-05-2001 in State Bank of India, Bazarghat Branch, Hyderabad again. However, all the four cheques were returned with the endorsement "not a clearing member". He, therefore, got a legal notice dated 11-05-2001 issued to the Chairman, Vice-Chairman and Directors of the accused-Bank demanding payment of the amounts covered by those cheques to the tune of Rs. 2,02,424/- within 15 days from tne date of receipt of the said notices. All of them, having received the said notices under various acknowledgments, even after lapse of 15 days therefrom, failed to pay the amounts covered by the four banker cheques. They did not even give any reply to the legal notices got issued by the complainant.;