STATE OF HARYANA Vs. SARUP SINGH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS Criminal Appeal No. 346-DBA of 1989 is directed against the judgment and order of Shri S.P. Sharma, Judicial Magistrate Ist Class, Tohana, District Hissar, whereby the respondents (hereinafter referred to as the accused) have been acquitted of the offences punishable under Sections 477-A/408/409/120-B of the Indian Penal Code for which they were charged on the basis of benefit of doubt.

(2.) ALL the accused faced investigation in F.I.R. No. 72 dated 13.2.1976 under Sections 467/468/409/420/120-B of the Indian Penal Code on the basis of the case registered by Assistant Registrar, Co-operative Societies, Hissar, with the contention that they were employees of the Tohana Co-operative Marketing Processing Society and in the month of May, 1974 about, 1478 bags of urea fertilizer were lying in the possession of the Society at Jakhal. Information was received by the accused or one of them that the rates of urea fertilizer were going to be increased from Rs. 54/- to Rs. 103/- per bag. On receipt of that information, the accused entered into a criminal conspiracy and showed the sale of the fertilizer at the Jakhal Depot of Tohana Society to have been made in the name of some fictitious persons and the same was shown to have been sold at the old rate and thus they had defrauded the government and embezzled an amount of Rs. 86,288.80 for their personal benefit.

(3.) IT is at the outset found throttling to mention that although the case was registered with the police on 13.2.1976, yet the police managed not to arrest the accused for a period of eight months for the reasons best known to them. The police did not take sufficient care to conduct the investigation in the matter immediately.