SATPAL AND ANR Vs. STATE OF PUNJAB

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Petitioners Satpal & Yashpal sons of Barkat Ram have preferred the instant petition for the grant of anticipatory bail in a case registered against them, vide FIR No.89 dated 3.5.2012, on accusation of having committed the offence punishable under Sections 406, 409 & 420 read with section 34 IPC, by the police of Police Station Dina Nagar, District Gurdaspur, invoking the provisions of Section 438 Cr.P.C.

(2.) The epitome of the facts, which needs a necessary mention for the limited purpose of deciding the present application for anticipatory bail and emanating from the record, is that, the petitioners are partners/owners of M/s Baba Nanak Rice & General Mill, Gurdaspur. The Markfed of Punjab Government entrusted/supplied 178077 bags weighing 66176.95 quintals of grade-1 paddy for shelling/milling into rice as per the agreement (Annexure P1). The firm acknowledged the receipt of the stock and was required to return the rice of the same quality to the Markfed within the stipulated period. Instead of returning the A-class quality of rice of required quantity, the firm of the petitioners returned a very less quantity (weight) of rice, that too, of very inferior quality. The remaining stock of paddy 154318 bags weighing 54011.30 quintals was stated to have been misappropriated by the firm causing a huge loss to the Markfed.

(3.) Levelling a variety of allegations and narrating the sequence of events, in all, the prosecution claimed that the petitioners-accused misappropriated indicated bags of rice of Markfed and thus they have committed the criminal breach of trust and cheated it. In the backgrounds of these allegations and in the wake of complaint of District Manager of the concerned department, the instant case was registered against the petitioners-accused, in the manner indicated herein-above.