A court at Palghar in Maharashtra on Monday sentenced local Shiv Sena MP Rajendra Gavit to one-year imprisonment after convicting him in a cheque bouncing case and directed him to pay the compensation of Rs 1.75 crore.
The court of Judicial Magistrate First Class, VP Khandare, stayed the execution of the order for one month to allow Mr Gavit to file an appeal and obtain orders from the appellate court.
"The amount of compensation is huge and therefore, in my view, time can be granted to the convict for the payment of the same. Therefore, considering submissions made by advocates from both sides, I am inclined to allow both the applications and grant time of 30 days for bringing appropriate (orders) from the Appellate court," the court said in the order.
The order stated that the convict is released on bail upon furnishing a PR bond and surety bond of Rs. 15,000 each.
A PR or Personal Recognizance Bond is when a judge allows the defendant to be released without any deposit or collateral.
The court noted that the convict regularly and diligently attended hearings on the dates fixed during the trial.
"He is sentenced to undergo imprisonment for a term of one year and pay compensation of Rs 1,75,00,000," the order stated.
The case relates to land in Palghar and a dispute between Mr Gavit and developer Chirag Bafna, as per the prosecution.
Mr Gavit had given the land to another developer. He had also written to the district collector asking him not to grant permission to Mr Bafna to develop the said land.
In 2017, Mr Bafna filed a case against Mr Gavit for allegedly not fulfilling the conditions of the agreement he had signed.
In 2019, Mr Gavit had agreed that he had taken the money and signed the said agreement.
Later, the MP agreed before a court that he will pay Mr Bafna an amount of Rs 2.5 crore. While a cheque of Rs 1 crore was honoured another cheque of Rs 1.50 crore issued by him bounced.
Mr Bafna then filed a case in the court under section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act.
Section 138 provides that when the cheque is dishonoured for insufficiency of funds or for any of the prescribed reasons, the one who is at defaulter can be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to two years, or with a fine which may extend to twice the amount of the cheque, or both.
During the trial, Mr Gavit cited reasons like the Parliament session, the COVID-19 pandemic, his ill health etc. which delayed his submissions before the court. He also submitted that as he was a tribal and pressured to sign on certain papers.
However, the court dismissed his arguments.
Mr Gavit had earlier served as the tribal development minister in the erstwhile Congress-NCP alliance government in Maharashtra.
In 2018, he joined BJP just before the by-poll to Palghar Lok Sabha seat and won the election. In 2019, he joined BJP's alliance partner Shiv Sena to contest from Palghar again.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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