1 IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION CRIMINAL APPLICATION NO. 5058 OF 2009 Mr. Uday Kalu Shetty .... Applicant. V/s The State of Maharashtra ..... Respondent. Mr. A.P. Mundargi, Senior Counsel i/b Mrs Prabha Badadare for the applicant. Mr. J.P. Kharge, APP for the State. CORAM: V. M. KANADE, J. DATE : 2ND DECEMBER , 2009 P.C.:- 1. Heard the learned Senior Counsel for the applicant and the learned APP for the State. 2. Applicant has been arrested in connection with the the Complaint which is registered vide C.R. No.15 of 2009 with E.O.W. (Unit-I) with GBCB CID, Mumbai 3. Applicant is carrying on business in the name and style of Toshiba Energy & Exports and is exporting Solar Panels to foreign companies. According to the applicant, he received an order from two Companies called G. & S Solar Garage & M/s Mercy Investment Ltd. The company - G. & S. Solar Garage issued a cheque bearing No.622411 of USD 82208.00 on 25/06/2007 drawn on Felra and UFCW Pension Fund and another company M/s Mercy Investment Ltd. 2 issued a cheque bearing No.402130 of USD 61879.009 on 15/06/2007 drawn on Bank of America. The said cheques were deposited by the applicant in his Bank viz. HSBC Bank. The said cheques were cleared and the amount was deposited in the applicant’s account on 31/07/2007. Since both these cheques were issued by Foreign Banks, HSBC Bank also issued certificate of Foreign Inward Remittance on 06/08/2007. 4. Subsequently, in 2007, HSBC Bank lodged a complaint in which they alleged that both the cheques were forged and, therefore, the Bank on which the said cheques were drawn dishonoured the said cheques. According to the applicant, he had received these cheques through courier on account of his business transaction with the aforesaid two companies and the said cheques were cleared by the said Foreign Banks and, therefore, subsequently, HSBC also cleared the said cheques. In view of the complaint, applicant was arrested on 23/10/2009. 5. Mr. Mundargi, the learned Senior Counsel appearing on behalf of the applicant, submitted that the applicant had received these cheques through courier and he had deposited these cheques in HSBC Bank, which were sent by the said two companies towards the sale consideration for Solar Panels which were exported by the applicant herein. He submitted that, therefore, there was no question of the applicant forging the said cheques since they were sent by 3 courier by the said two companies. He further submitted that these cheques were also cleared by the said Foreign Banks and upon receiving the said clearance, the HSBC Bank has issued a letter of remittance. He submitted that, therefore, there is no material against the present applicant so far as the alleged forgery of the said cheques is concerned. 6. The learned APP appearing on behalf of the State, on the other hand, submitted that the applicant had not supplied material to the said two companies which had issued the cheques and, therefore, the said cheques were recalled. He submitted that investigation is still in progress and, therefore, interrogation of the applicant is necessary. 7. After having heard the learned Counsel appearing on behalf of the applicant and the learned APP appearing on behalf of the State, in my view, continued detention of the applicant is no longer necessary, particularly because prima facie it does appear that the applicant had received these cheques through courier. There appears to be civil dispute between the two parties and after having issued the cheques, possibly, party to whom the goods were to be supplied appears to have issued the instructions of stop payment. However, by that time, the cheques had already been cleared by the aforesaid Foreign Banks and, subsequently, on clearance of the said cheques by the said Foreign Banks, HSBC Bank also cleared the cheques and 4 issued letter of remittance. Therefore, under these circumstances, it cannot be said the the said cheques were forged and fabricated by the applicant. In my view, therefore, continued detention of the applicant is not necessary. Applicant is in jail since 23/3/2009. The learned APP appearing on behalf of the State after taking instructions from the Investigating Officer was not in a position to point out any material to indicate that the applicant forged these two cheques or was responsible in any manner in the alteration in the said cheques as alleged by the complainant. 8. Applicant, therefore, be released on bail in C.R. No.15 of 2009 registered with E.O.W. (Unit-1) GBCB, CID in the sum of Rs 15000/- with one or two sureties in the like amount. He shall report to the concerned Police Station as and when called. 9. Application is disposed of. (V.M. KANADE, J.)