Thane Court Reduces Developer Shehnawaz Khan's Cheque Bounce Fine To Rs 24 Lakh
The Thane District and Additional Sessions Court in Thane has upheld the conviction of a local developer in a cheque bounce case but reduced his fine from Rs 32 lakh to Rs 24 lakh. On July 16, 2026, District Judge-3 and Additional Sessions Judge P.V. Ghule partially allowed an appeal filed by Shehnawaz Sarfaraz Khan, the proprietor of Sagar Developers and Realtors, modifying his sentence after he claimed insolvency.
The dispute originated from a Rs 16-lakh cheque that was dishonoured twice due to insufficient funds. According to the complainant, he had advanced a friendly loan of Rs 20 lakh to Khan in October 2011. Khan repaid Rs 4 lakh through two separate cheques of Rs 2 lakh each, leaving an outstanding balance of Rs 16 lakh, which was covered by the dishonoured cheque.
Khan contended that the cheque was related to a flat transaction rather than a friendly loan. He argued that after his Rs 4-lakh payment, only Rs 12 lakh remained in dispute. During the proceedings, the court noted that the complainant failed to produce a written loan agreement in evidence, despite admitting during cross-examination that such an agreement had been executed and returned to Khan.
In the appeal, the court observed that the complainant had indeed admitted to receiving Rs 4 lakh from Khan. Consequently, the legally recoverable amount stood at Rs 12 lakh. The appellate court found that the trial court had failed to account for this partial repayment when it initially imposed a fine of Rs 32 lakh, which was equivalent to twice the original cheque amount.
To rectify the error, Judge Ghule reduced the fine to Rs 24 lakh, representing twice the actual outstanding liability of Rs 12 lakh. The court also reduced Khan's default sentence from three months of simple imprisonment to two months. The developer has already served his substantive six-month prison sentence. The court ordered that the entire recovered fine of Rs 24 lakh be paid to the complainant as compensation.
