N. RAGHAVENDER Vs. STATE OF ANDHRA PRADESH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Appellant is aggrieved by the judgment dated 18th June, 2009 passed by Andhra Pradesh High Court, dismissing his criminal appeal against the judgment and order dated 28th March, 2002 of the Special Judge, CBI Cases, Hyderabad whereby he was held guilty of the offences under Sections 409, 420, and 477A of the Indian Penal Code (for short, "IPC") and Section 13(2) read with Section 13(1)(d) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 (for short, "PC Act") and sentenced to a total of five years of rigorous imprisonment with various fines for each offence. Accused Nos. 2 and 3 who were also tried along with the appellant, were, however, acquitted of all the charges.

(2.) The brief facts germane to the appeal are as follows:

(3.) The alleged modus operandi of the accused persons was that the Appellant, in his capacity as a Branch Manager, issued loose-leaf cheques on 23.04.1994 and thereafter, for a sum of Rs. 2,50,000/-, and despite withdrawal of the said amount, the debit was deliberately not entered into the ledger book. After that, another such transaction took place on 30.06.1994 for a sum of Rs. 4,00,000/-, and once again, the debit was not entered into the ledger sheet of the Bank. This was followed by the Appellant issuing another cheque on 30.07.1994, of a closed account for withdrawal of Rs. 3,50,000/-. The endorsement on the third cheque issued by the Appellant showed the payment in favour of Accused No.3; however, the signature on the cheque did not tally with that of Accused No.3. The Appellant was further accused of pre- maturely closing two FDRs on 24.02.1995 and 25.02.1995, which were for a sum of Rs. 10,00,000/- and 4,00,000/- respectively, and stood in the name of one B. Satyajit Reddy. As per the vouchers issued by the Bank, a total of Rs. 14,00,000/- were credited to account No. 282 but only Rs. 4,00,000/- were shown in the ledger. The remaining Rs. 10,00,000/- were allegedly adjusted towards the secret withdrawal from account No. 282 during the year 1994. It is the prosecution's case that the Appellant, Accused No.2 and Accused No.3, worked in tandem to engineer these transactions, which resulted in a wrongful loss to the Bank and its Depositors.