2 doctors, directors of a hospital, have been convicted & sentenced to 6 months’ rigorous imprisonment after cheques they issued to repay a loan of Rs 15 lakh to an 80-year-old man were dishonoured in 2013. The Andheri magistrate court found Drs Shital Shah & Rajul Mesvani guilty under sections of The Negotiable Instruments Act.

Seeking leniency, they urged the court to consider that they were doctors & submitted that they hadn’t done it intentionally. While the court accepted that the transaction was “civil”, it said, “But the accused compelled the 80-year-old complainant (Rajni Shah) to knock on the door of justice. Hence, the accused are liable to undergo a reasonable sentence & it would be just to direct them to pay Rs 21.6 lakh.”

The court said this amount included the cheque amount & 7% interest per annum for 6 years, which comes up to Rs 6.3 lakh. The court also included court fees of Rs30,000 & litigation charges of Rs5,000.

The court said that if the duo failed to pay compensation within a month, Rajni will be entitled to further 7% interest per annum till its realization.

Rajni had told the court that the doctors were directors of Mediheights Healthcare Pvt Ltd. He said Shital was like his daughter & he had given a loan of Rs 15 lakh to the company. Rajni said the accused assured its return & executed a promissory note dated June 12, 2013. He said that they had issued two cheques for Rs 10 lakh & Rs 5 lakh each for June & July 2013 respectively.

Rajni said both cheques were dishonoured. 2 more were issued but they too were dishonoured in Oct 2013. He said he issued a legal notice & sought payment in Nov 2013 but he got no response. Hence, he filed the complaint against the company & doctors.

The doctors pleaded not guilty. Their advocate argued that in 2013 the company was in a financial crisis, its hospital was evicted from its premises at Vile Parle & the matter went before Bombay HC. The advocate argued that the the cheques were issued only for income-tax purposes so there no liability on the accused.

The court held that the accused failed to produce relevant & admissible evidence to prove this.

The court relied on Rajni’s deposition & relevant documents, & said, “It is proved that the accused issued the cheques in discharging legal liability & on presentation, the cheques were dishonoured & on demand by way of statutory notice, the accused failed to pay the amount of cheques within the stipulated period.”

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