AMARENDRA NATH ROY Vs. STATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The appellant Amarendra Nath Roy was convicted under s. 409, I. P. C. by a Special Judge, West Bengal First Special Court, Alipore, and sentenced to R.I. for one year and a fine of Rs. 1000/-and in default to R. I. for three months more.

(2.) The State Transport Department of the Government of West Bengal has an office at P.11 Mission Row Extension. It has also another office known as the Lake Depot and started on 1-4-1950. From the very inception of the Lake Depot the present appellant was working as the Depot Cashier there. Prior to that he was working as Depot Cashier at the Mission Row Office. The case for the prosecution briefly is that all collections of the Lake Depot are sent by the Head Depot Cashier, Suhrid Kumar Bose, p. w. 1, through some of his Depot Cashiers in an armed van of the Transport Department from the Lake Depot for depositing in the iron safe meant exclusively for the cash from the Lake Depot and that the present appellant Amarendra who though attached to the Lake Depot, was really in charge of that iron safe kept at the Mission Row Extension office for deposit of the cash sent from the Lake Depot Office and as such was entrusted with the keys of that safe used to keep the cash along with the challans made out by the Lake Depot Office for deposit of this money in the Reserve Bank on the following day. On 7-2-1953, Suhrid Bose sent a sum of Rupees 6752/9/6 of which Rs. 802/9/6 consisted of coins, Rs. 3045/- of one rupee notes and Rs. 2905 of notes of the denomination of Rs. 2/-, Rs. 5/- and Rs. 10/-. This money was sent along with two sets of challans in triplicate, one of the challans being for coins and the other for notes, through Anil Krishna Ghose, a Depot Cashier of the Lake Depot who was accompanied by Kalidas Sarkar, a peon attached to the Lake Depot Office in an armed cash van. The money was made over by Anil Krishna Ghosh to the appellant who received and kept the amount in the iron safe in the presence of Anil Krishna Ghose and the peon. It was to be deposited on 9-2-1953 in the Reserve Bank as the 8th February was a Sunday. The amount, however, could not be deposited in the Reserve Bank on the 9th as the State van did not arrive from Belgharia office that day. The appellant informed Suhrid Kumar Bose over the phone that the cash could not be deposited that day as the armed van did not arrive. On the 10th the armed van of the State Transport left with Jitendra Nath Bose who was in charge of the Belgharia cash section of the State Transport and who carried with him the cash from Belgharia to the Mission Row Office. After the arrival of the armed van from Belgharia at the Mission Row Office at about 10.30 a.m. the Appellant Amarendra Nath Roy opened the iron safe with the keys in his custody and found that the bundle of notes amounting to Rs. 2905/-and kept in the iron safe was missing. He reported this matter to Jitendra Nath Bose of Belgharia office who had accompanied the van. Jitendra Nath Bose asked him to make a thorough search but even after the search the bundle could not be traced out. At the instance of the appellant Jitendra Nath Bose then rang up Suhrid Kumar Bose, the Head Depot Cashier of the Lake Depot and gave him the information. The appellant also had a talk with Suhrid Kumar Bose over the phone. Suhrid Kumar Bose then came to the Mission Row Office and questioned the appellant. Thereafter he rang up the Chief Accountant of the Belgharia office and informed him that he was going to Belgharia in connection with a serious matter. Then Suhrid Kumar Bose, Jitendra Nath Bose and Ashutosh Sanyal who was the cashier in charge of the Mission Row Office at the time, together with the appellant went to the Chief Accountant S. Dutt of Belgharia, p.w. 5 Suhrid Kumar Bose reported the matter to S. K. Dutta who again reported the matter to Lalit Mohan Bakshi, p.w. 7, the Director of Administration at the time. The appellant submitted a statement in connection with the matter and this is Ex. 5. Lalit Mohan Bakshi then sent an information (Ex. 6) to the Hare Street Police Station reporting the incident through Suhrid Bose. The appellant also accompanied Suhrid Bose to the Hare Street police Station. Thereafter they returned to the Mission Row Office. Adhip Ohandra Mukherjee, p.w. 6 who was the Director of operation of the State Transport and, S.K. Dutta, the Chief Accountant of the Belgharia Office, then went to the Mission Row Office for making enquiries. On their arrival they found that the Police had not yet arrived. Adhip Chandra Mukherjee rang up the Dy. Commissioner of Police at Lalbazar and a little later Sasanka Mohan Banerjee, p.w. 17, an Inspector of the Detective Department, Lalbazar, who was deputed by the Dy. Commissioner to investigate the matter, arrived along with T. M. Chakravarty, p.w. 15, another Inspector of Police. They inspected the iron safe in the presence of Suhrid Bose, A. C. Mukherjee, the appellant and others. The appellant was asked to open the safe and he did so with the keys in his custody, the safe having double locks. After opening the safe the appellant brought out two sets of challans and the remaining cash amounting to Rs. 3847/9/6 along with the duplicate keys of the iron safe which were lying inside the safe. The police officer found nothing to indicate tampering with the safe. During the investigation the safe was also examined by p.w. 8 Bhabatosh Chatterjee, Officer of Messrs. Roy & Co., of 100 Harrison Road, Calcutta, which had supplied the safe in question to the Mission Row Office. He also found no signs of tampering with the safe. The appellant was arrested on 3-4-1953 and after investigation he was sent up in charge sheet. On these facts he was charged with having committed criminal breach of trust in respect of the missing amount of Rs. 2905/- out of a sum of Rupees 6752/9/3 which had been entrusted to him on 7-2-1953.

(3.) The defence of the appellant seems to have been that the money in question was never actually made over to him because on the 7th he was out at the Reserve Bank up to 2 p.m. and in his examination under Section 342, Cr. p. C. he made the further case that he was not actually in charge of the keys of the safe because the money used to be brought by Suhrid Bose himself in his absence in the Mission Row Office and he himself put the money into the safe with the keys which the appellant had left with Anil Krishna Ghose, cashier of the Mission Row at the time and then on the 10th he met Suhrid Bose in a bus near Thanthania and Suhrid Bose asked him to take the keys and he did so and opening the safe with the keys he discovered the shortage.