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12. Having such materials on record and there being no other material to show that the accused has been falsely implicated, I do not find any strong reason to differ from the view taken by the Trial Court. hence, the judgment of conviction passed by the learned Sessions Judge, is proper and correct.

13. However, the learned counsel for the appellant-accused No.1 is right in submitting before this Court that even accepting the case of the prosecution, the offence under Section 489B of IPC is not made out; at the most, it may fall under Section 489C of IPC. Therefore, the conviction and sentence for the offence under Section 489B, according to the learned counsel, is not correct.

This provision clearly indicates that there must be selling, buying or receiving by the accused from any other person or otherwise the accused traffics in or uses the forged or counterfeit currency notes or bank notes as genuine knowing or having reason to believe the same to be forged or counterfeit, then only he is punishable under Section 489B of IPC.

15. Section 489C speaks about the possession of forged or counterfeit currency-notes or bank-notes, which reads as under:

"489C. Possession of forged or counterfeit currency-notes or bank-notes.-- Whoever has in his possession any forged or counterfeit currency-note or bank-note, knowing or having reason to believe the same to be forged or counterfeit and intending to use the same as genuine or that it may be used as genuine, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to seven years, or with fine, or with both." In order to attract this provision, a person must be in possession of any forged or counterfeit currency note or bank note, knowing or having reason to believe the same to be forged or counterfeit and intending to use the same as genuine or that it may be used as genuine. shall be punished with imprisonment of either description.

17. The offence under Section 489B of IPC is punishable with imprisonment for life or with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to ten years, whereas Section 489C is punishable with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to seven years, or with fine, or with both. The offence under Section 489C of IPC is punishable with lesser punishment when compared to the offence under Section 489B of IPC.

In view of the above said facts and circumstances, on re-appreciation of the material on record, I do not find any reasons to interfere with the opinion of the Trial Court, regarding the judgment and conviction, however, it requires to be modified in view of the above observation. Hence, the following order:

Order The appeal is partly allowed. The appellant- accused No.1 is convicted for the offence under Section 489C of IPC instead of 489B of IPC. The sentence passed by the Trial Court sentencing the accused to undergo rigorous imprisonment for three years and to pay fine of Rs. 2000/-, with default clause holds good even for the offence under Section 489C of IPC and, hence, the said sentence is not disturbed.

Sd/-