INDRA NARAYAN ROY Vs. STATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The appellant Indra Narayan Roy has been convicted under Sections 409/109 of the Indian Penal Cods and sentenced to rigorous imprisonment for five years by Guha, J. at a High Court Sessions trial agreeing with the majority verdict of six to three. The prosecution case was briefly as follows: The Calcutta National Bank Ltd. was started by Sachindra Mohan Bhattacharjee and it began doing business on a small scale in 1930 in a building at 3 and 4 Hare Street. It was registered as an incorporated Company on 25-5-35 and had become a scheduled bank, in October 1938; it shifted to its own premises at P. 2, Mission Row Extension in 1940. S. M. Bhattacharjee became the Managing Director of the Calcutta National Bank Ltd. in 1937 and he continued as such until the 30th June, 1946, when the Articles of Association of the Banking Company were altered and the post of the Managing Director was abolished, and it was provided that the management of the bank would henceforth be done by a Board of Directors headed by a Chairman, and S. M. Bhattacharjee was elected as the first Chairman of the Board of Directors and began to function as such from the 1st July, 1946. On 21-2-50 the Board of Directors passed a resolution as to amalgamation with other banks against the wishes of S. M. Bhattacharjee; and S. M. Bhattacharjee thereupon resigned from the Board of Directors on 21-2-50; but with effect from the 1st June, 1950, he began to function again as the Chairman of the Board of Directors, having, been reelected as such because in the meantime the other directors had come over to his view and decided against amalgamation with other banks. T. C. Chatterjee became a director of the bank with effect from the 7th July, 1939 and continued as such to the end. The appellant Indra Narayan Roy first became a director of the Calcutta National Bank Ltd. on the 26th December, 1948 and he was also elected as a member of the Investments and Advances Committee, which Committee was entrusted with the responsibility to examine and approve of all proposals for investments and advances of the funds of the bank. The first members of the Committee were S. M. Bhattacharjee and T. C. Chatterjee.

(2.) The Calcutta National Bank Ltd. financed a large number of subsidiary or sister concerns and in this appeal we are particularly concerned with one of them, namely, India Construction Company Ltd. Other subsidiary concerns were Indian Investment Corporation Ltd., Chemical Industries of India Ltd., Farmers' Corporation of Bengal Ltd., United India Investment Co. Ltd., Aryan Engineering Works Ltd., Fire and General Insurance Co., Ltd., New Bengal Provident Insurance Co., Ltd., Indian Economic Insurance Co. Ltd., Hindusthan Cotton Mills Ltd., and Iron and Steel Industries or India Ltd. These subsidiary companies were generally started in 1942 and 1943 and S. M. Bhattacharjee was one of the directors of all these companies. The appellant Indra Narayan Roy was also one of the directors of ten of these companies, that is, all the subsidiary companies except the New Bengal Provident Insurance Co. Ltd., but he was a shareholder in that company also. T. C. Chatterjee was a director of the five of the companies and was a shareholder in some of the other subsidiary companies. The subsidiary companies were formed to advance industries which might be financed by the Calcutta National Bank Ltd. and it is clear that S. M. Bhattacharjee, I. N. Roy and T. C. Chatterjee were associated together in most of the subsidiary companies.

(3.) According to the evidence, however, the appellant I. N. Roy was at first mainly interested in the Hindusthan Cotton Mills Ltd. There is the evidence that he was a Textile Engineer and he devoted his energies in making the Hindusthan Cotton Mills a success and, in fact, it appears that the Cotton Mills were working successfully, and at the time when the Calcutta National Bank Ltd., closed down, the Hindusthan Cotton Mills Ltd., had a credit balance of over Rs. 3 lakhs at the bank.