A Delhi court recently acquitted a man accused of forgery, over 12 years after a case was registered against him, noting that there was a mismatch between the handwriting samples and the signature on the cheque linked to the fraud.
“The specimen handwriting of the accused does not match the alleged handwriting on the cheque in question as per the FSL (Forensic Science Laboratory) report Ex.PW5/A. There is no reasonable explanation by the complainant as to why the FIR was lodged on 06.03.2013 whereas the offence took place on 10.09.2012,” said Judicial Magistrate First Class Aridaman Singh Cheema of the Saket court in an order dated September 17, which was recently made public.
Ram Dutt was accused by the prosecution of cheating complainant Virender Pal Singh by presenting as genuine an alleged forged cheque at a bank in Sarita Vihar, back in September 2012.
The amount on the cheque, which was originally issued for Rs. 6,326 by the firm, First Select Pvt. Ltd, was allegedly altered to Rs 60,326.
Dutt was charged with using as genuine a forged document, forgery of valuable security, and cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property. He was accused of dishonestly inducing the complainant bank to transfer Rs 60,326 in his bank account.
“It is pertinent to state here that PW-1 is the person with whom the cheque in question was deposited. Perusal of the cheque bearing no. 036123 dated 06.09.2012 reveals that the cheque has been issued by First Select Pvt. Ltd. and bears the signature of two signatories. None of the signatories have been examined in the present case,” the court said.
“In the present case, the officers concerned of the company who had issued the cheque were never examined and even the alleged handwriting of the accused does not match the specimen handwritings as per the FSL report,” it added.
