STATE OF PUNJAB Vs. BAJ SINGH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This appeal is directed against the judgment dated 18/03/1987, passed by the Additional Sessions Judge, Amritsar, by which the judgment and order dated 18/01/1986, rendered by the Judicial Magistrate Ist Class, Patti, convicting and sentencing Baj Singh, respondent (hereinafter called the 'accused') to various terms of imprisonment and fine under Ss. 409, 467 and 468, Penal Code, was set aside and the accused was acquitted.

(2.) Briefly stated, the prosecution case is as under : - The case against Baj Singh accused was regis tered on the basis of the complaint made by Shri Bakhtawar Singh, Block. Development and Panchayat Officer, Valtoha, which was sent to the Senior Superintendent of Police, Amritsar vide letter No. 1042, dated 29/09/1977. In the complaint it was stated that the complainant was working as Block Development and Panchayat Officer, Valtoha and the accused was posted as Head Clerk in his office and that on 18/04/1975, Manohar Lal, Accounts Clerk was trans ferred and the charge of his seat was got handed over to the accused by the complainant. It is further stated in the complaint that the complain ant issued cheque No. 191042/001911 dated 14/07/1976 for Rs. 6,000.00 to be drawn from the accounts of the Samiti for official expenses and handed over the same to Baj Singh after making endorsement thereon for getting it encashed from the Treasury. The accused made a credit entry of Rs. 6000.00 in this regard at page 152 of the cash book on 14/07/1976 in his own hand. The aforesaid cheque was in the hand of Baj Singh accused and he obtained his signatures thereon. Similarly, Baj Singh accused prepared Cheque No. 191045/001911 dated 30-9-1976 for Rupees 3,000/-, cheque No. 191048/001911, dated 11 10- 1976 for Rs. 1000.00, cheque No. 191064/001911, dated 25-5-1977 for Rs. 6300.00 and cheque No. 191065/001911 dated 21-6-1977 for Rs. 6000.00 and obtained signatures of the complainant. The complainant made endorsement on the back of these cheques in favour of Baj Singh and handed over the same to Baj Singh for encashment from the Treasury. The credit entry regarding receipt of Rs. 3000.00 was made by the accused at page 162 of the cash book on 30/09/1976 and credit entry with respect to Rs. 1000.00 was made by him at page I 64 of the cash book on 11/10/1976. The accused did not make credit entries with respect to the last two cheques dated 25-5-1977 and 21-6-1977 for Rs. 6300.00 and 6000/- respec tively. The complainant attested the entries re garding the first three cheques in the cash book after seeing their counterfoils. The accused re mained absent from the office for so many days in the month of June, 1977. In July, 1977 he re mained absent from the office from 25-7-1977 till 29/09/1977, i.e. the date of filing of the complaint. In his absence, Sh. Harbans Singh, Senior Auditor of the Department, came to the complainant's office on 16/08/1977 for 5 days for making audit, but he could not make any audit as the record was with the accused. On 19/08/1977, the complainant got the cash book, Treasury Pass Book and the cheque book searched from the office room of the accused and on checking them he found that the accused had drawn Rs. 8000.00, Rs. 4000.00, Rs. 11000.00, Rupees 16300/- and Rs. 9000.00 respectively from the trea sury against the aforementioned five cheques and in this way he had drawn a sum of Rs. 26000.00 in excess from the treasury fraudulently and misap propriated the amount of the last two cheques for Rs. 25300.00 by not entering the same in the cash book. Thus in all, embezzlement of Rs. 38,300.00 by the accused came to the complainant's notice. In this respect, the complainant wrote D. O. letter No. 868 dated 19/08/1977, to Sh. Parduman Singh, District Development and Panchayat Offi cer, Amritsar. It is further stated in the complaint that on 30/06/1977, the accused prepared a cheque bearing No. 191066/001911, dated 30/06/1977, in his own hand, obtained his (complainant's) signatures and endorsement on the back of the cheque was made in the name of Ram Parkash Puri, who got the said cheque encashed from the Treasury. Ram Prakash Puri had given in writing that he had handed over the said money to Baj Singh for payment of salary to the employees. Thus Baj Singh accused made an embezzlement of Rs. 44,300.00, which came to the notice of the Block Development and Panchayat Officer, Valtoha. Besides this, at Page 89 of the original cash book the accused has mentioned that two amounts i.e. Rs. 605.00 and Rs. 1797-80 were transferred from the cash book of the Samiti, but on inspection it was found that both these amounts had not been entered in the cash book of the Samiti. These two amounts had also been misappropriated by the accused. The complainant wrote another D.O. letter No. 1028 dated 27/09/1977 to Sh. Parduman Singh, District Develop ment and panchayat Officer, Amritsar, requesting him to visit the spot and get the chest (safe) broken, count the cash and get the charge handed over to the new Accountant. On receipt of the aforesaid D. O. letter, the District Development and Panchayat Officer ordered that the complain ant should get a case registered against Baj Singh, Head Clerk, On the basis of this letter, the case was registered against the accused by Sh. Harbhupinder Singh, Moharrir Head Constable. The case was investigated by ASI Roop Chand, who found that the abovesaid amounts were em bezzled from the Samiti Fund in connivance with Sh. Bakhtawar Singh, the then Block Develop ment and Panchayat Officer. The Investigating Officer took into possession the necessary cheques, cash book, Samiti Book, Treasury Book and other relevant registers, arrested the accused and on completion of the investigation got him challenged through Shri Rajinder Kumar, S. H. O.

(3.) The prosecution, in order to bring home guilt to the accused, examined nine witnesses. P.W. 1 Harbans Singh, Naib Tehsildar stated that he took the specimen signatures of Baj Singh accused and proved Ex.PA to PF. P.W. 2 A. K. Bhanot, Manger, State Bank of Patiala, stated that he proved the confirmation letter Ex.P. G. P.W. 3 V. K. Bhalla, Assistant Treasury Officer de posed that from 4/07/197 5/07/1979 he remainmained posted as Assistant Treasury Officer. Sub Division, Patti, and from the relevant record proved the entry. Ex.PH., of encashment of cheque No. 191045 dated 27-9-1976 for Rs. 4000.00 and endorsement thereon, Ex.PA/1, Cheque No. 191042 dated 14-7-1976 for Rs. 8000.00, entry whereof is Ex.PA/2 on the photostat copy marked Ex.P1, cheque No. 191048 dated 13-10-1976 for Rs. 11,000.00 the entry Ex.PA/3 whereof is made on its photostat copy Ex.PJ, cheque No, 191064 dated 25-5-1977 for Rs. 16,300.00, entry Ex.PA/4 whereof is made on its photostat copy Ex.PK, cheque No. 191065 dated 2-6-1977 for Rupees 9000/-, entry Ex.PA/5 whereof is made on its photostat copy, Ex.PL, cheque No. 190166 dated 30-6-1977 for Rs. 6000.00, entry Ex.PA/6 whereof is made on its photostat copy Ex.PM. PW 3 stated that all these cheques were passed by him for getting the payment From the Bank. P.W. 3/1 Harbans Singh, Superintendent handed over to the police the tour programme register, Ex.P. 1, starting from 18-3-1975 to 30-12-1976 and the same was taken into possession vide recovery memo Ex.PN. P.W. 5 Karnail Singh handed over to the police cheque book, Ex.P. 3, pass book Ex.P. 4, three cash books Ex.P. 5 to Ex.P. 7 tour programme register, Ex.P. 1, who took them into possession vide recovery memo Ex.P. O. P.W. 6 Ram Prakash Puri, Accounts, Clerk proved counter-foil marked 'A' in cheque book Ex.P. 3, entry Ex.P. 8 on Cash Book Ex.P. 5, for Rs. 6000.00 marked A/6, counterfoil of cheque book Ex.P. 3 and entries Ex.P. 9 to P. 11 on register Ex.P. 5 and entries Ex.P. 12 to P. 14 on register Ex.P. 6, which were made in the hand of Baj Singh accused. P.W. 6 Mehnga Ram, who was Accountant on 20/10/1977, handed over to ASI Roop Chand five registers, which were taken into possession vide recovery memo, Ex.PD, and these include pass books from 29-1-1974 to 14-9-1977 from pages 1 to 91, Ex.P. 4, cash book pages 1 to 100 with an entry at Page 94, the last entry in the register Ex.P. 7 being dated 19-8-1977, Samiti cash book from pages 1 to 102 from 8-5-1974 to 31-3-1977 Ex.P. 5, cash book from pages l to 200 from 4-4-1977 to 1-7-1977 Ex.PX, cheque book containing cheques No. 191001/001911 to 191100/001911, P.W. 7 Ram Nath handed over to ASI Roop Chand letters Ex.PW. 7/1 and P.W. 7/2, which were taken into possession vide recovery memo Ex.P.W. 7/3. P.W. 8 Amar Singh arrested the ac cused. P.W. 9 Santokh Singh is a document expert witness, who gave his report, Ex.P.W. 9/L.