INDIRA KARKERA Vs. STATE OF MAHARASHTRA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) On April 6, 2016, pursuant to FIR, an offence came to be registered based on the complaint of Rajesh Bishandass Arora, General Manager (Legal), Britannia Industries Limited (herein after referred to as "BIL", for the sake of brevity). The applicant came to be arrested on May 5, 2016 and was subjected to custodial interrogation for an offence punishable under Ss. 409, 420, 467, 471, 472, 477(A), 120-B read with 34 of the Penal Code, 1860 in Crime No. 24/2016 registered with Economic Offence Wing, which was initially registered as Crime No. 183/16 with Sakinaka Police Station.

(2.) The prosecution case against the applicant is: Applicant is the Vice President of M/s. Sharepro Services (I) Pvt. Ltd., who was appointed as a Registrar and Transfer Agent. The said Sharepro Services (I) Private Limited was entrusted with a duty to act as share transfer agent for and on behalf of "BIL" so as to maintain records of holders of securities issued by said "BIL". The Sharepro Services (I) Pvt. Ltd. was also required to deal with the matters regarding transfer and redemption of securities, transfer of shares, dividends, redemption of shares, etc.

(3.) It was expected of said Sharepro Services (I) Pvt. Ltd. to pass on the benefits on behalf of "BIL" to rightful share holders and to act in trust on its behalf. On January 9, 2016, anonymous letter was issued alleging that the present applicant has taken physical custody of 33750 share certificates of Mr. Sujitkumar Gupta to open DMAT account in the name of one Mr. Balram Sanjay Mukherjee and transferred 3500 shares which were, in turn, transferred in the account of Prashant Karkera. It is claimed that the said shares were sold in open market and the amounts were transferred in the name of said Mr. Balram Mukherjee. The applicant, along with its Managing Director and other staff, hatched a criminal conspiracy with dishonest intention and shares worth more than Rs.10.00 crores of Mr. Sujitkumar Gupta were mismanaged drawing financial benefits out of the same resulting into registration of crime for cheating, forgery, criminal breach of trust, forgery of court records, etc.