REENA Vs. STATE OF KERALA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Applicant is the 2nd accused in Crime Nos.462, 457, 456, 455, 461, 458, 460, 459, 451 of 2020 of Nenmara Police Station, Palakkad for having allegedly committed offences punishable under sections 406 and 420 r/w Section 34 of IPC.

(2.) The prosecution case is almost similar in all the crimes. It is stated that small groups were formed of agriculturists to cultivate their fields with different crops, particularly banana, and a loan of Rs.4 lakhs each was sanctioned to them and the loan was disbursed through the Nenmara Branch of Canara Bank. The specific allegation is that the actual cultivators got very little of what was actually sanctioned as loan and that the applicant and the other accused persons siphoned out a major portion of the amount, which is roughly calculated at a sum of Rs.62 lakhs in all the crimes together. The applicant states that the amounts were actually disbursed through the accounts of the agriculturists and there is no possibility that the applicant or the other accused could siphon the amount from them.

(3.) It is on the basis of the complaints which were lodged by the agriculturists and the Secretaries of the Sangams that these crimes were registered and each one of them had allegations that they were not given the money, which was sanctioned as loan to them jointly. Each group consisted of four agriculturists, and there were Secretaries representing them. It is seen that at the time of disbursing the amounts, portions of which were distributed among the accused persons including the applicant.