Territorial jurisdiction under Section 138 NI Act turns on legally relevant acts, not mere intermediary cheque presentation.

Territorial jurisdiction for a Section 138 Negotiable Instruments Act complaint depends on the legally relevant acts constituting the offence, read with Sections 177 and 178 CrPC. A cheque drawn on a bank at Bhandara, where the transaction arose, did not confer jurisdiction on Digras merely because the cheque was routed through a bank there. The local bank acted only as an intermediary for presentation and intimation, and the notice issued from Digras did not require payment there. Residence, account details, or later working arrangements at Digras were insufficient to create jurisdiction. The Magistrate at Digras therefore lacked jurisdiction to entertain the complaint.

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Issues: Whether the Judicial Magistrate First Class, Digras had territorial jurisdiction to entertain a complaint under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act when the cheque was drawn on a bank at Bhandara, the transaction arose at Bhandara, and the cheque was merely presented through a bank at Digras.

Analysis: The statutory scheme of Section 138, read with Sections 177 and 178 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, requires the offence to be traced to one or more legally relevant acts, but the place of presentation is material only when the cheque is presented to the drawee bank or where the other acts constituting the offence have a real legal nexus. The cheque in question was drawn on the Bank of India, Bhandara Branch, and the bank at Digras functioned only as an intermediary for presentation and intimation. The notice issued from Digras did not require payment to be made at Digras, and the complainant's residence, account details, or subsequent working arrangements at Digras did not create jurisdiction where none otherwise existed. The prior decisions relied upon were distinguished on the basis that the present facts did not show that any essential component of the offence occurred within Digras.

Conclusion: The Court held that the Magistrate at Digras had no jurisdiction to entertain the complaint and the order rejecting the jurisdictional objection could not be sustained.

Ratio Decidendi: In a prosecution under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, territorial jurisdiction is founded on the legally relevant acts constituting the offence, and a mere intermediary presentation of the cheque at a local bank, without nexus to the drawee bank or the place where payment was legally required to be made, does not confer jurisdiction.

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