RAMESH CHANDRA PATEL Vs. STATE OF ODISHA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The appellants Ramesh Chandra Patel (CRLA No. 208 of 2003) and Dibakar Pradhan (CRLA No. 294 of 2003) faced trial in the Court of learned Special Judge (Vigilance), Sambalpur in T.R. Case No.14 of 1995 for offences punishable under sec. 13(2) read with sec. 13(1)(c) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 (hereafter '1988 Act') and Sec. 467, 471 read with sec. 34 of the Indian Penal Code on the accusation that in the month of May 1991, they being the public servants, in furtherance of their common intention committed criminal misconduct by dishonestly misappropriating a sum of Rs.6250.00 (rupees six thousand two hundred fifty) entrusted to them, forged certain documents purporting to be valuable security i.e., payment vouchers and L.T.Is. of the payees and also fraudulently used those documents as genuine knowing the same to be forged documents. The learned trial Court vide impugned judgment and order dtd. 6/8/2003, found both the appellants guilty of all the charges and sentenced each of them to undergo rigorous imprisonment for one year and to pay a fine of Rs.5,000.00 (rupees five thousand) each, in default, to undergo further rigorous imprisonment for three months for the offence under sec. 13(2) read with sec. 13(1)(c) of the 1988 Act and to undergo rigorous imprisonment for one month and to pay a fine of Rs.500.00 (rupees five thousand) each, in default, to undergo further rigorous imprisonment for one week each on each count for the offences under Sec. 467/471 read with sec. 34 of the Indian Penal Code and all the substantive sentences of imprisonment were directed to run concurrently. Since both the appeals arise out of one common judgment, with the consent of learned counsel for both the parties, those were heard analogously and are disposed of by this common judgment.

(2.) The prosecution case, in short, as per the first information report (Ext.8) lodged by Deonarayan Jha (P.W.12), the Inspector of police, Vigilance, Reserve Squad No.1, Sambalpur before the Superintendent of Police, Vigilance, Sambalpur Division, Sambalpur on 24/6/1991 is that he received reliable information that the Social Forest Supervisor and the Village Forest Worker of Kolabira S.F. Range under Social Forestry Project Division, Sambalpur have misappropriated the Govt. money amounting to Rs.6250.00 by showing false digging of pits in respect of Kendudihi village woodlot over an area of 2 hectares of land by preparing false vouchers during the month of May 1991. After verification of the concerned documents in the office of the Deputy Director, S.F.P. Division, Sambalpur, the informant (P.W.12) proceeded to the spot along with other officials and verified the pits which were dug over two separate sites in patches and counted the same in presence of the witnesses and found that only 1828 numbers of pits were dug in place of 5000 numbers of pits shown to have been dug in vouchers nos.93 and 94 of May 1991 of Kolabira S.F. Range. The S.F.S. and V.F.W of Kolabira S.F. Range were found absent from their head quarters on 8/6/1991 and though P.W.12 searched for them but nobody could able to say about their whereabouts on that day. P.W.12 verified the records and vouchers in the office of the Deputy Director, S.F.P., Division, Sambalpur and it was found that vouchers nos.93 and 94 were submitted by the V.F.W. and S.F.S. of Kolabira S.F. Range for an amount of Rs.6250.00 for digging of 5000 numbers of pits. It is the further prosecution case as per the F.I.R. that out the aforesaid sum of Rs.6250.00, a sum of Rs.3125.00 was shown to have been paid for the execution of work in favour of Lalmani Khadia and fourteen others of village Bagdihi under Laikera police station in the district of Sambalpur and the works were shown to have been executed in between 22/4/1991 to 30/4/1991. Similarly another sum of Rs.3125.00 was shown to have been paid to the aforesaid persons for the works executed in between 1/5/1991 to 9/5/1991. The Investigating Officer (P.W.12) on further verification at village Bagdihi found that there was no such person by name Lalmani Khadia in that village as well as fourteen others whose names were appearing in the vouchers nos.93 and 94 and it was also ascertained that no labourers of village Bagdihi dug any pits at Kendudihi during that year. It is the further prosecution case as per the F.I.R. that the I.O. (P.W.12) conducted further enquiry in village Kendudihi and ascertained that eight numbers of young labourers of village Kendudihi had worked for digging pits at the spot and those persons were also examined by the I.O. and they stated that they dug the pits at the spot and received payment @ Rs.0.50 paise per pit. Those persons also stated that they were not paid daily wages of Rs.25.00 each as claimed in the two vouchers rather they were paid on job work basis at the rate of Rs.0.50 paise per pit each by appellant Dibakar Pradhan, V.F.W at Kendudihi and they had signed/given their L.T.Is. on a voucher while receiving the payments from V.F.W. They only dug pits over about half of the plot of land and stopped further due to hard soil and summer. On verification, the I.O. found that only 1828 numbers of pits were dug at village Kendudihi by 8/6/1991 instead of 5000 numbers of pits shown to have been dug by 9/5/1991 showing payment of Rs.6250.00 to 15 nos. of fake labourers of village Bagdihi. It is the further prosecution case that forged vouchers were prepared by the Village Forest Worker and it was accepted by Kolabira S.F. Range who submitted the same to the Dy. Director, S.F.P. Division, Sambalpur. During course of enquiry, the I.O. (P.W.12) learnt that the appellant Dibakar Pradhan, the Village Forest Worker was in-charge of the plantation work at Kendudihi and appellant Sri Ramesh Ch. Patel was in-charge of Social Forestry Range at Kolabira S.F. Range and they were found absent from their Headquarters. It is further stated in the F.I.R. that as per Social Forestry instructions Hand Book Vol. 1 Chapter 9 Provision 11.2, the Social Forestry Supervisor i.e., the appellant Sri Ramesh Ch. Patel is supposed to make payment himself as far as practicable. He was further supposed to supervise the plantation works thoroughly while it was in progress and was supposed to visit each and every plantation sites regularly. The further prosecution case is that the appellant Ramesh Ch. Patel facilitated misappropriation of Govt. fund by the subordinate staff i.e., the appellant Sri Dibakar Pradhan, V.F.W. and by way of illegal omission, he abetted the crime. The F.I.R. was lodged on the accusation that without executing the works as per vouchers and by preparing false and forged vouchers, the appellants misappropriated Govt. money to the tune of Rs.6250.00 in furtherance of their common intention. On the basis of such first information report (Ext.8), Sambalpur Vigilance P.S. Case No.19 of 1991 was registered under sec. 13(2) read with sec. 13(1)(c)(d) of 1988 Act and Sec. 467/471 read with sec. 34 of the Indian Penal Code against the two appellants. The superintendent of Police, Sambalpur directed P.W.12 to take up investigation of the case and during course of investigation, P.W.12 visited the spot on 8/6/1991 along with other officials, Forest Guard of Kolabira S.F. Range and villagers of Kendudihi. The spot was identified by the Forest Guard and the villagers, which was a gochar land of village Kendudihi situated over plot nos.910 and 987 of Khata no.261 measuring 2 hectares. The I.O. found some pits were dug and major portion were left without digging any pit. He counted the numbers of pits already dug which came to 1828 in place of 5000 numbers of pits shown in the records maintained by the two appellants in the Division office, Sambalpur. The I.O. examined some villagers of Kendudihi and Bagdihi and all of them denied to have completed the works or to have received any amount or to be working at the spot. They denied their knowledge about such persons who were shown in the vouchers. The I.O. (P.W.12) collected the specimen finger prints of two persons namely, Nandalal Khadia and Loknath Khadia who were identified by the appellant Dibakar Pradhan as payees Lalmani Khadia and Gopal Khadia in the vouchers nos.93 and 94 of May 1991. The specimen finger prints were sent to Finger Print Bureau for comparison with the finger prints of payees in the voucher which did not tally and in that connection the opinion of the finger print expert has been proved as Ext.7. The I.O. seized the vouchers and other relevant documents as per seizure list Ext.1, he seized the V.F.C. Resolution Book, Nursery Journal, Plantation Journal of village Kendudihi, Village Committee Resolution Book of Laikera as per seizure list Ext.3. He also seized Cash Copy of cash account of Kolabira S.F. Range for the month of May 1991 and original vouchers nos.93 and 94 of May 1991 of Kolabira S.F. Range for Rs.3125.00 each as per seizure list Ext.9. The I.O. (P.W.12) also obtained the sanction order (Ext.4) from the competent authority i.e. Deputy Director, Social Forestry Project Division, Sambalpur after due discussion with him for appellant Dibakar Pradhan, the V.F.W. So far as appellant Ramesh Ch. Patel, Social Forestry Supervisor, Kolabira is concerned, the sanction order (Ext.6) was obtained from the Principal, Chief Conservator of Forests, Odisha, Bhubaneswar. On completion of investigation, charge sheet was submitted on 3/4/1995 against both the appellants under Sec. 13(2) read with sec. 13(1)(c)(d) of 1988 Act and Sec. 467/471 read with sec. 34 of the Indian Penal Code.

(3.) The defence plea of the appellants was one of denial and it is specifically stated that 5000 numbers of pits were dug and payment has been made to the persons who had worked for digging the lands.