BIDYUT KUMAR PAL Vs. STTAE OF BIHAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Both the Appellants have been convicted under Section 420 of the Indian Penal Code and sentenced to One year Rigorous Imprisonment as also under Section 420 read with 120B of the Indian Penal Code and sentenced to One year Rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs. 3,000/- in default of which Three months Rigorous Imprisonment. The Appellant Bidyut Kumar Pal has also been convicted under Section 477A of the Indian Penal Code and sentenced to Rigorous Imprisonment for Two years and under Sections 13(1)(d)/13(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 and sentenced to One year Rigorous Imprisonment and a fine of Rs. 1,000/- in default of which Rigorous Imprisonment for Two months by the Special Judge, C.B.I., South Bihar, Patna, by a Judgment dated 15.3.1996 in Special Case No. 34 of 1990. The case of the prosecution briefly stated is that while Appellant Bidyut Kumar Pal was posted as a Clerk in Patna University Branch of Allahabad Bank during 1989, he allegedly entered into a criminal conspiracy with Appellant Bhishma Prasad Sharma, Proprietor of the Prabhat Printing Press, Muzaffarpur, and wrongly credited a sum of Rs. 1,88,253/- to his firm's Account a cheque meant for Vishwamitra Paper Industry Ltd. on 31.3.1989 which Bhishma Prasad Sharma periodically withdrew between 4.4.1989 and 21.10.1989.

(2.) To prove the requirements of the Sections, the prosecution examined ten witnesses out of whom PW-1 (Ashok Kumar Sinha) is formal and only on the point of his introduction on the account opening form (Exts.-2 and 2/A) of Appellant Bhishma Prasad Sharma. Similarly, PW-2 (Bhuneshwar Singh) former Bank Manager of Allahabad Bank is merely on the production of Current Ledger and Log Book marked X and Y for identification.

(3.) P.W. 3 Madhusudan Rai Sharma was the Assistant General Manager of Allahabad Bank, who proved the sanction for the prosecution of the Appellant Pal. In his cross-examination, he stated that in Banks there is a provision for daily, weekly and monthly balancing. It is when this balancing of figures is done, the defects are detected. In the concerned Bank, there was no balancing being done. He further stated that sometimes there was mistake in totalling of the figures.