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Aurangabad-based builder gets three months rigorous imprisonment

AURANGABAD: Ishwar Suryawanshi, the judicial magistrate first-class at Aurangabad, has sentenced a city-based builder to three months of rigorous imprisonment (RI) and has also asked him to pay compensation of Rs 15 lakh to the architect in a cheque bounce case.

Suryawanshi, while convicting the builder — identified as Pradeep Abhang, a resident of Ulkanagri area of the city — ruled that if the accused failed to pay the amount, he would undergo one more month of rigorous imprisonment.


Abhang had taken senior police officer Sudarshan Mundhe’s plot on development in 2014 and had appointed architect Sagar Boramanikar, a resident of Devanagri, to design a residential apartment project.

In August 2014, two people known to the architect had expressed their willingness to purchase one flat each. Though the architect introduced them to the builder, they were reluctant to trust the builder, who claimed that the project would be completed in six months.

Howev er, the two men paid Rs 7.70 lakh and Rs 3.30 lakh respectively to the builder and signed an agreement stating that in case the flats are not handed over within the promised time frame, they will take the money with interest. As an assurance to the total amount of Rs 10 lakh, the two customers took the architect’s cheque.

Due to the delay in getting a clearance from the civic body, the construction did not materialise, and noticing the same, the two customers started seeking a refund.

Lawyers Sachin Sarda and Sawan Pawar, who represented the architect, said Abhang claimed of not having money and convinced the architect to pay on his behalf. The builder also promised that he would return the architect’s money at the earliest. The builder even gave a cheque to the architect as an assurance.

Trusting him, the architect obtained a loan of Rs 13.30 lakh from a bank and transferred the same to the two customers. Days later, the cheque given to the architect by the builder was deposited in the bank, only to be dishonoured due to lack of money. The builder then failed to respond to the notices sent to him, following which the matter was filed before the court under the Negotiable Instruments Act.

The builder tried a series of defence tactics, including that “there is no legally enforceable debt”, “notices were not served at his address”, “the architect is framing him as a project was not given to him” and that “the cheque available with the architect was actually given to the two customers”.

Countering the claims, lawyers Sarda and Pawar picked holes in the submissions made by the builder, following which the JMFC convicted and sent the builder to three months of rigorous imprisonment, with directives to pay an amount of Rs 15 lakh to the architect.

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