SHIVAJI NARAYAN SHINDE Vs. STATE OF MAHARASHTRA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS is an appeal by an accused who has been convicted under Sections 468 and 471 of the Indian Penal Code.

(2.) THE facts which have given rise to this appeal are that the appellant's father -in -law, B. R. Kodare, had a savings bank account with the Bajirao Road Post Office at Poona. The number of the account was 596028. About three years prior to 1969 the appellant left Rahu, the village where he was residing, and came to live in Mundhawa near Poona, very close to his father -in -law. He became acquainted with Krishna Rasane, the owner of a bangle and cycle shop in Mundhawa. In the morning of September 20, 1968 Rasane was coming to Poona on his bicycle. On the way he met the appellant who was also proceeding to Poona on a bicycle; so these two cycled towards Poona in the company of each other. On the way the appellant told Rasane that he wanted to withdraw some money from the Bajirao Road Post Office and that Rasane should accompany him, and thereafter they could both proceed to Poona together. Accordingly the appellant and Rasane went to the Bajirao Road Post Office and the appellant handed over a pass book to Mrs. Nalini Alathe, who is the savings bank clerk at the said post office, and informed her that he wanted to withdraw Rs. 500. He also requested her to give him a withdrawal application form. Accordingly Mrs. Alathe gave the appellant a withdrawal application form for being filled in. Admittedly the pass book handed over by the appellant to Mrs. Alathe was the pass book of Account No. 596028. As the cover of the pass book was missing, Mrs. Alathe could not find out the number of the account, and in order to trace it she kept the pass book with her and tried to ascertain the number of the account from the particulars appearing 'n the last entry in the pass book with the help of the savings bank journal. She found that that particular account stood in the name of B. R, Kodare and that the entries in the pass book did not tally with those in the journal. Further, the first page of the pass book showed erasures and overwriting and the name of the depositor shown thereon, both in English and in Marathi, was Shivaji Narayan Shinde, that is, the name of the appellant, instead of B. R. Kodare. The address appearing on it in Marathi was the Rahu village address of the appellant. This aroused the suspicions of Mrs. Alathe who thereupon took the savings bank journal and the pass book to sub -postmaster Bhalchandra Kanade and pointed out to him the discrepancies which she had found. Kanade checked up the entries and the name appearing in the pass book with those in the savings bank journal and verified that they did not tally. On that day the Assistant Superintendent of Post Offices, Wasudeo Kulkarni, had come to the Bajirao Road Post Office for some administrative work. Sub -postmaster Kanade reported the matter to him. Kulkarni thereupon called in the appellant and asked him why he had brought the pass book. The appellant replied that he had brought the pass book as he wanted to withdraw Rs. 500. Kulkarni further asked him who had made alterations in the pass book. The appellant denied all knowledge with respect to these alterations. Kulkarni also called in Rasane who on being questioned informed him that he had merely accompanied the appellant, Kulkarni thereafter rang up the Phule Market Police Chowki and reported the matter. He was asked to bring the appellant to the police chowki. Accordingly he took the appellant with him to the Phule Market Police Chowki and lodged a complaint which was taken down as the first information report. The appellant was thereafter put under arrest.

(3.) DURING the course of the trial, as the learned Additional Sessions Judge felt that on page 1 of the pass book the name of the account -holder 'B.R. Kodre' was erased and substituted by the name of the appellant, by his order dated July 1, 1969 he directed the Chief State Examiner Phansalkar to take photographs of that portion of the pass book in ultra -violet light and produce the same in Court. This was done. Apart from the evidence of Police witnesses and the panchas, the prosecution examined Rasane, the savings bank Account Clerk Mrs. Alathe, Sub -Postmaster Kanade and Assistant Superintendent of Post Office Kulkarni as also the handwriting expert Phansalkar. The prosecution could not examine Kodre as he died about one month before the commencement of the trial in the Sessions Court.