NIMAI CHARAN MOHANTY Vs. REPUBLIC OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) IN this Criminal Revision, the accused namely Nimai Charan Mohanty assails the order dated 07.02.2014 passed in T.R. No. 2 of 2010 of the Court of the Special Judge, C.B.I. -I, Bhubaneswar, rejecting his application under Section 239 of the Cr.P.C. to discharge him.

(2.) THE investigation of the case was taken over by the C.B.I. as per the direction of this Court in W.P. (Crl.) No. 55 of 2003 vide order dated 24.04.2006. Specific direction was given by this Court to investigate the circumstance under which the original N.S.Cs. were permitted to be returned to the main accused. It was alleged in the F.I.R. that one Jagdish Prasad Saha, resident of Ward No. 9, Baripada, Mayurbhanj and Puspa Devi entered into conspiracy with others and in pursuance thereof had taken loans from the Evening and Baripada branches of the Mayurbhanj Central Cooperative Bank Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as the "MCCB Ltd.) to the tune of Rs. 9,49,500/ - by pledging N.S.Cs. purportedly issued from G.P.O., Patna, Bihar though the same were purportedly stolen in transit. The outstanding balance against the loan was Rs. 13,17,349/ - as on 31.03.2001. It was further alleged that the N.S.Cs. shown issued from Patna G.P.O. favouring Jagadish Prasad Saha and Puspa Devi were pledged for obtaining those loans from the MCCB Ltd. It is further alleged by the prosecution that even after receiving the memos and Interim Special Audit reports in this regard, the Secretary of the Bank and the Branch Managers of the said Bank preferred not to initiate any punitive action against the defaulter.

(3.) AS far as the present petitioner is concerned, it transpires during investigation that on receipt of the specific and detailed report of the Audit Officers pointing out that the N.S.Cs. purportedly pledged for this loan were actually stolen in transit and figured in the negative list, accused Secretary B.K. Dash and Passing Officers Sk. Jallauddin did not take any action against the loanee. Later on receipt of the letter from the I.I.C., Baripada Police Station not to release the said N.S.Cs. even after repayment, accused Secretary B.K. Dash, brought the matter into the notice of the Collector and Management -in -charge of the MCCB Ltd. for obtaining an order. The Collector and Management -in -charge of the MCCB Ltd. formed a committee comprising of the Secretary of the Bank, Law Officer of the Bank, DRCS & ARCS of Baripada. He also allowed that the opinion of the Govt. Pleader may be taken, if need be. Secretary B.K. Dash instead of taking the opinion of the committee members, referred the file to the Government Pleader depicting an encouraging picture about repayment of loan. The Government Pleader N.C. Mohanty opined that the original N.S.Cs. may be returned to the loanee after retaining copies duly certified by one Executive Magistrate. Then a meeting of the Committee constituted by the Collector, attended by accused Secretary B.K. Dash, Makarfa Singh, DRCS and S.K. Jena, ACRS was held on 01.12.2010, in which the illegal opinion of said N.C. Mohanty, Government Pleader was ratified. The minutes of the said meeting were communicated to the then Branch Manager of Evening Branch. The application submitted by accused loanee J.P. Saha for return of impugned N.S.Cs. was forwarded by the said Branch Manager to accused Secretary B.K. Dash, whose issued orders for return of the N.S.Cs.