STATE OF HIMACHAL PRADESH Vs. T R SETH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Five persons were tried by the Special Judge, Shimla, for offences under Sections 420, 468, 465, 471 and 120B of the Indian Penal Code and Section 5( 1) (2) punishable under Section 5(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1947 (briefly the Act). Of them, Shri T.R. Seth and Shri Balwant Singh were public servants. They were acquitted by the learned Special Judge on April 30, 1988. The State of Himachal Pradesh has approached this Court in appeal against that order of acquittal.

(2.) It is said that a truck with registration No. H.P.A 1788 met with an accident near St. Bedes College, Shimla, on September 6, 1982, while it was on its way from Thanadhar to Parwanoo. First Information Report No. 36 of 1982 was lodged the same night under Section 279 of the Indian Penal Code. The truck was not insured with any Insurance Company. The allegation is that after obtaining the attested copy of the First Information Report, accused Muni Lal informed the Assistant Manager of the New India Assurance Company Limited, Chandigarh, through letter dated September 4, 1982, (Ex. PW 2113) that his truck No. H.P.A 6288 bad met with an accident on September 6, 1982. This was done after altering the figure in the First Information Report from H.P.A 1788 to H.P.A.6288. The body of the application is stated to have been written by accused B.S. Mehta. Truck No. H.P.A 6288 was insured with the New India Assurance Company Limited, Chandigarh. Accused Surinder Chaudhary conducted the survey of the accidented truck and submitted a false survey report assessing the loss to the extent of Rs. 17,653.10 P. Several documents are stated to have been manipulated and forged by accused Muni Lal, B.S. Mehta and Surinder Chaudhary .in order to prefer the claim. Mum lal preferred the claim with the Insurance Company at Chandigarh.

(3.) Accused T.R. Seth was an Administrative Officer in the Insurance Company at Ropar. He carried out the technical scrutiny of the bogus truck accidental claim. Accused Balwant Singh, an assistant in the Insurance Company at Chandigarh, registered and processed the claim. It is said that T.R. Seth and Balwant Singh were a party to the conspiracy to cheat the Insurance Company, alongwith the remaining three accused, namely, B.S. Mehta, Surinder Chaudhary and Muni Lal. A bill for the amount claimed was got sanctioned from the Deputy Manager of the Insurance Company at I Chandigarh.