WASSAN SINGH Vs. STATE OF PUNJAB

JUDGEMENT

(1.) WASSAN Singh was convicted under section 420, IPC and sentenced to undergo one year's rigorous imprisonment and to pay a fire of Rs. 100/ - and in default to further undergo rigorous imprisonment for 4 months. His appeal having been dismissed by the learned Additional Sessions Judge, Amritsar, he has preferred this revision petition.

(2.) THE salient facts of the case are that in October, 1975, Wassan Singh applied for a loan of Rs. 8100/ - under the low income group housing scheme. The said loan was sanctioned to him and he actually obtained it. He was later prosecuted for committing the offence of cheating on the ground that whereas in his application Ex DA he stated that he had a house in a dilapidated condition, yet he filed the affidavit Ex. PA wherein he deposed that he had no house in his name. The investigation revealed that Wassan Singh in fact was the owner of a house and that deposition made by him in his affidavit Ex PA was false. Hence, he was prosecuted.

(3.) BEFORE the learned Additional Sessions Judge, it was vehemently argued that in his affidavit Ex. PA, apart from the above -said deposition, Wassan Singh also promised that (i) he will not misutilise the loan for any other purposes; (ii) he will use the house for his own residence and will not give it on rent to anybody; (iii) he will not construct any shop by misutilising the loan; (iv) he will not buy old house and will use the loan for the construction of new pacca house only; and(v) he had not started the construction of the house for which he was seeking the loan. Above all, the authority sanctioning the loan, Shri J. S Maini, did not state any where that he was ever induced or cheated to grant the loan by the deposition made in the affidavit of Wassan Singh that he did not own a house. Furthermore, Shri Maini did not state that Wassan Singh made any misrepresentation before him. As such, the essential ingredients of the offence of cheating could not be said to have been satisfied beyond reasonable doubt. The learned Additional Sessions Judge did not record any categorical finding on this main issue in the case, rather he was mainly influenced by the fact that the above -said deposition in the affidavit Ex PA of Wassan Singh has been found to be false. Be that as it may, the fact remains, whether the false depositions in any way satisfy the abovesaid ingredients of the offence of cheating.