Patna High Court
Ragho Saran Sao vs The State on 17 March, 1961
Equivalent citations: AIR1961PAT405, 1961CRILJ536, AIR 1961 PATNA 405
JUDGMENT G.N. Prasad, J.
1. For an offence under Section 489C, Indian Penal Code, the appellant has been sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for a term of five years.
2. The prosecution case is that in the morning of the 31st July, 1958 certain police officers, on receipt of a confidential information that the appellant was dealing in forged Currency notes, proceeded to his house with a search warrant from the court of the Subdiyisional Magistrate of Barn and there they took the personal search of the appellant in the presence of certain witnesses. As a result thereof, the police recovered two currency notes from the folds of a dhoti which the appellant was wearing, both the currency notes being of Rs. 10/- and bearing the same, serial number, namely O/31 268190. During the course of the investigation the notes in question were sent for examination to the Government Forged Notes Expert attached to the Criminal Investigation Department. The report of the expert was that the notes in question were forged. The appellant was, accordingly, sent up for trial and he was tried on a charge under Section 489-C, Indian Penal Code.
3. The appellant pleaded not guilty to the charge framed against him. In his statement under Section 342, Criminal Procedure Code, the appellant stated that the notes in question were wrapped in paper and left on his cot by one Narain Singh with whom he had some enmity and who was responsible for getting him falsely implicated.
4. The learned Assistant Sessions Judge has come to the conclusion that the notes in question are forged, that they had been recovered from the possession of the appellant as alleged by the Prose cution, that the appellant was conscious of the fact that the notes were forged and that he intended that they would be used as genuine or that they might be used as genuine.
5. So far as the notes (Exts. I and I/I) be-ing forged are concerned, the matter has been put beyond the realm of controversy by the evidence of the expert (P. W. 7) who had examined them on the 4th of September, 1958, and submitted a report that they were forged. In support of his opinion, the expert has given a number of reasons and, in my opinion his evidence is sufficient to establish that the notes in question were forged.
6. There is also overwhelming evidence on the record in support of the prosecution case that both the notes had been recovered from the pos-session of the appellant as a result of the search which was conducted by the police in the morning of the 31st of July, 1958. The witnesses who have deposed about this matter are two police officers (P. Ws. 1 and 8), a police constable (P. W. 6) and two village witnesses, namely, Abu Mohmmad (P. W. 3) and Rajendra Prasad (P. W. 4). I have gone through the evidence of all these witnesses carefully and I find no reason to reject their sworn testimony. So far as the appellant's case of false implication at the instance of one Narain Singh is concerned, it is apparent that there is no sub-stance in it. The appellant's own statement under Section 342, Code of Criminal Procedure, shows that he does not know Narain Singh and he had not even seen him before. It must, therefore, be held that the appellant has not been falsely implicated in this case.
7. The learned Assistant Sessions Judge has relied upon certain circumstances for the Purpose of inferring that the appellant was retaining the two forged notes with the necessary knowledge about their being of forged character. In my opinion, the conclusion of the learned judge on this point also is correct, particularly having re-gard to the fact that both the notes (Exts. I and I/I happen to bear the same serial number. It is inconceivable that two such notes bearing the same serial number would come in possession of the appellant without hjs knowledge.
8. For an offence under Section 489-C, Penal Code, it is, however, also essential to establish that the accused intended to use the forged notes as genuine or that they might be used as genuine. On this point I do not find any material in support of the prosecution case. The learned Judge haS only referred to the fact that the notes were in the folds of the appellant's dhoti for interring that the appellant's intention was to use them as genuine.
It should, however, be remembered that at the time of the recovery the appellant was at his own house, sitting in his verandah according to some of the witnesses and all alone according to some others. In such circumstances it cannot conclusively be inferred that, while possessed of the forged notes the appellants also intended to use them as genuine or that they might be used as genuine, It is, therefore, clear that one of the essential ingredients of the offence mentioned in Section 489-C, Penal Code, has not been satisfactorily established in this Case.
9. In the circumstances I am unable to uphold the conviction of the appellant. The conviction and the sentence of the appellant are, therefore, set aside and the appeal is allowed.