S G TAMBE Vs. STATE OF DELHI

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS petition raises the question whether the Resident Magistrate of Delhi was justified in directing that a sum of Rs. 1,17,000 should be handed over to Dr. Gurbux Singh under the provisions of S. 516-A of the Code of Criminal Procedure.

(2.) EARLY in 1950 Dr. Gurbux Singh a businessman of Delhi entered into partnership with one H. K. Gupta, a person of shady reputation and doubtful antecedents. The partners were to carry on business in sugar in the name and style of Gupta Gurbux and Co. , and their extensive dealings in this commodity were to be financed by the Punjab National Bank on the security of Dr. Gurbux singh. The accused pledged a number of forged Railway Receipts with the Bank secured a loan of the aggregate value of Rs. 1,17,000 and disappeared mysteriously from Delhi Dr. Gurbux singh who was called upon to reimburse the Bank for the loss which had been occasioned by the fraudulent conduct of the accused reported the matter to the police and a case under Sections 420 and 468 of the Penal Code was registered against him. The accused was arrested at Bangalore on the 24th June 1955 and two bags a chocolate coloured bag with two handles containing Rs. 1,17,000 and another bag containing Rs. 92,000 were recovered from his possession. He was produced before S. Hardayal Singh, Resident Magistrate of Delhi, on the 1st September and remanded to police custody the same day. He confessed his guilt before a Magistrate of the first class and stated that the sum of Rs. 1, 17,000 which was recovered from the chocolate coloured bag with two handles belonged to Gupta Gurbux and Co. and should be made over to Dr. Gurbux singh to enable him to settle the accounts with the Bank. He retracted this confession in part a few days later and stated that he had borrowed only a sum of Rs. 80,000 from Dr. Gurbux Singh and that the rest of the money had been borrowed from others. The Resident Magistrate at Delhi requested the City Magistrate at Bangalore to remit the sum of Rs. 1,17,000 to him by means of a bank draft, but the City Magistrate expressed his inability to comply with this request. He explained that a number of civil and criminal cases were pending against the accused in Patna, delhi and Indore, that the money recovered from the accused had been attached by a Sub-Judge at Patna and that one Mr. S. G. Tambe who had been appointed Interim Receiver of the property of the accused under Section 20 of the Provincial Insolvency Act claimed that he was entitled to hold the money for the benefit of all the creditors of the accused. As each currency note was likely to be required for purposes of identification and investigation of the offences which were alleged to have been committed, the City Magistrate was of the opinion that the amount should not be deposited in a bank and that the identity of the notes should not be destroyed. He accordingly decided to send the entire sum of Rs. 3,09,000 to the Resident Magistrate at Delhi under a special police escort.

(3.) THE notes arrived in Delhi on the 1st September and on the same day Dr. Gurbux Singh presented an application to S. Hardayal Singh in which he stated that he had indemnified the punjab National Bank to the extent of Rs, 1,17,000 and requested that the money which had come from Bangalore should be paid to him as he was incurring a loss of Rs. 600 per mensem on account of interest alone. Mr. S. G. Tambe who had been appointed Interim Receiver of the property of the accused objected strongly to the payment of the money to Dr. Gurbux Singh. He stated that this money had been attached by the Additional District Judge of Indore in his capacity as an Insolvency Judge, that the learned Additional District Judge had directed that this money be handed over to the Interim Receiver, that a number of persons including the United commercial Bank at Indore were putting forward their respective claims in regard to this property, that it was necessary to hold an enquiry in order to determine the title to the property and that as an enquiry in regard to the title was to be made by the Insolvency Judge of Indore it was open to Dr. Gurbux Singh to obtain his relief by making an application to the appropriate court. He argued (1) that in the eye of law this money was being held for and on behalf of the insolvency Judge of Indore, and (2) that no order for the disposal of this money could be passed pending the disposal of the insolvency proceedings. He requested S. Hardayal Singh to retain the money in his possession until such time as it was required for being handed over to the Interim receiver for payment to the creditors of the accused. S. Hardayal Singh brushed aside these arguments and proceeded forthwith to pass the following order: dr. Gurbux Singh, a P. W. in the case, has filed an application requesting that out of the property recovered from the accused, custody of Rs. 1,17,000 in regard to which amount he has already indemnified the Punjab National Bank and in regard to which he is incurring an interest of Rs. 600 per mensem, may be given to him. The request is supported by the investigating officer, deputy Supdt. Police, Supdt, Police Crime, and the Prosecuting Inspector, New Delhi. 1 have no reason to reject this request and therefore direct that the amount of Rs. 1,17,000 which is the case property in this case may be handed over to Dr. Gurbux Singh on sapurdari on his furnishing a surety in the sum of Rs. 2 Lakhs, to produce the same whenever called upon to do so. S. Hardayal Singh passed this order at about 2 o'clock on the afternoon of the 2nd September 1955 and handed over currency notes of the value of Rs. 1,17,000 to Dr. Gurbux Singh even though ho was aware that these notes were to be deposited in a bank and the identity of these notes was almost certain to be destroyed.