JOHNY Vs. STATE OF KERALA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The revision petitioner herein was booked by the Thodupuzha police on the basis of a complaint preferred by the Sub Judge, Thodupuzha in connection with the forgery of succession certificate in O.P.No.03/1994 of the said court, and the attempt to collect the insurance amount and other benefits of the deceased wife of the revision petitioner making use of the above said forged document.

(2.) It is stated that the wife of the revision petitioner, who was a Captain in the Indian Army, met with unnatural death, in respect of which her mother and siblings raised complaint against the revision petitioner for having caused her death. The alleged attempt of the revision petitioner to whisk away the insurance money and other benefits of his wife by making use of forged succession certificate, was done shortly thereafter. In the trial conducted before the Judicial First Class Magistrate-II, Thodupuzha, 32 witnesses were examined from the part of the prosecution as PW1 to PW32 and 27 documents were marked as Exts.P1 to P27. Four material objects were also identified and marked as MO1 to MO4. After an evaluation of the above evidence and hearing both sides, the learned Magistrate found the revision petitioner guilty of commission of offence under Ss. 466, 467, 468, 471, 475 and 511 of 420 I.P.C and convicted him. He was sentenced to simple imprisonment for two years each and a fine of Rs.2,000.00 each for the offence under Ss. 466, 468, 471 and 475 I.P.C and simple imprisonment for 2 1/2 years and fine Rs.3,000.00 for the offence under Sec. 467 I.P.C. For the offence under Sec. 511 of 420 I.P.C revision petitioner was awarded simple imprisonment for 1 1/2 years and fine Rs.2,000.00. Appropriate default clauses of simple imprisonments for nonpayment of fines were also provided in the aforesaid judgment dtd. 15/5/2003.

(3.) The Additional Sessions Court (Adhoc-II), Thodupuzha, in Crl.A.No.172/2003 confirmed the above verdict of the learned Magistrate and upheld the conviction and sentence. Aggrieved by the above concurrent verdicts of the trial court and the appellate court, the petitioner is here before this Court with this revision.