AVTAR SINGH Vs. STATE OF PUNJAB

JUDGEMENT

(1.) ACCORDING to the prosecution, on 6.2.1996 at about 1.30 p.m. the accused with mala fide intention to receive an amount of Rs. 35,000/- fraudulently from the Savings Bank Account No. 245 of Tripta Devi wife of Subhash Chander, serving as a clerk in the officer of Deputy Commissioner, Hoshiarpur, forged document known as withdrawal form which is valuable security with the intention to cheat the Bank and filled the said withdrawal form in his own hand and thereon forged the signatures of Tripta Devi on the space meant for signatures of depositors and presented the said forged withdrawal form for the purpose of cheating the complainant and to fraudulently withdraw and receive the amount of Rs. 35,000/- from the said Savings Bank Account, to Alka Sharma and Alka Sharma Savings Clerk in good faith made the debit entry in the saving ledger account of Tripta Devi of Rs. 35,000/- and thereafter she handed over the ledger alongwith the forged withdrawal form and token book with token entry No. 13 to the Accountant Shri Ravinder Singh Heer for verification of the specimen signatures of Tripta Devi and kept the token with her till the verification was made by the higher officers of the Bank. Shri Ravinder Singh Heer, Junior Accountant verified the signatures of Tripta Devi on the forged withdrawal form with her specimen signatures retained by the Bank at the time when she opened the savings bank account and sent the same to Shri Ajaib Singh Pabla, Senior Accountant, for further verification as the amount to be withdrawn was more than Rs. 10,000/-. When Shri Pabla tallied the signatures of Tripta Devi on the forged withdrawal form, he found the same to be quite different. Shri Ajaib Singh Pabla, Senior Accountant, returned the aforesaid record, i.e., ledger, forged withdrawal form, token book and specimen signatures to Ravinder Singh Heer, Junior Accountant through Avtar Singh accused with a direction to call Tripta Devi personally to put her signatures on the withdrawal form afresh. Shri Ravinder Singh Heer, Junior Accountant, asked Avtar Singh accused to produce Tripta Devi. In the process, Avtar Singh accused took away the said forged withdrawal form and also stealthily tried to snatch the specimen signatures binder. In this process, the specimen-signature sheet relating to Tripta Devi was torn. However, the specimen signatures of Tripta Devi remained intact in the binder as the accused could not succeed in stealing the same. The accused succeeded in taking away the forged withdrawal form with him and ran away. It transpired that Tripta Devi had never executed and signed any withdrawal form for the withdrawal of Rs. 35,000/-. It came to the notice of the Bank that the accused had committed fraud on the Bank by forging the signatures of Tripta Devi. On these allegations, this case FIR No. 38 dated 26.2.1996 was registered at Police Station, City Hoshiarpur, on the basis of written complaint dated 12.2.1996 by Shri Charan Dass, Deputy Manager Incharge of the Hoshiarpur Central Co-operative Bank Limited.

(2.) I have heard the learned counsel for the petitioner and the learned Assistant Advocate General for the State of Punjab.