Document Fragment View

Matching Fragments

37. The Special Court found that, in Ext.X1 there were many suspicious entries and accordingly the original was retained till completion of trial. In paragraph No.21 of the judgment of the Special Court it has been observed that, now coming to Ext.X1 it is seen that it contains several suspicious entries. So its original also was directed to be produced and it has been retained with a direction to return the same after disposal of this case. On a careful perusal of this record, it is seen that there is endorsement on stating that the arrears of purchase price and interest have been remitted. On its back side there is another endorsement in red ink in the remarks column that Rs.675/- is due as arrears of purchase price in LA No.41/81. There is also another endorsement stating that Rs.675/- and Rs.690/- have been paid as purchase price and interest 31.10.2001. All these are appear to have been made after this trap occurrence. There are several over writings, scorings etc. on its first page. Even though this register contains the Thandapper Account and details of remittance of tax in respect of other persons who obtained such assigned lands, no similar entries are seen in respect of the Thandapper account of such persons. For example, the land owned by one Sasidharan bearing Thandapper No.230 is an assigned land, the details of which are available in the register of lands reserved and assigned. From that register, it is seen that there is arrears of purchase price due from that land. Similar is the case with persons bearing Thandapper Nos. 231, 237 etc. But there are no entries in the Thandapper Account Register as seen in Ext.X1 stating that arrears of purchase price are due from them. On a careful appraisal of all facts and evidence, I am of the view that the above entries contained in Ext.X1 do not appear to be genuine entries and they are surrounded by a thick cloud of suspicion. In the above context, the argument of the learned counsel for the accused that PW9 directed PW6 to furnish the photo copy of first page of Ext.X1 alone with the intention of suppressing the details available on its back page cannot stand to reason. Even assuming that there was some amount due as arrears of purchase price in respect of the land owned by PW2, it cannot be held that the accused had demanded Rs.250/- as part of purchase price. If the accused was anxious to recover such arrears in compliance of the directions of his official superiors to recover such amounts as far as possible, then he would have demanded and received the whole amount remaining as arrears and would not have limited to Rs.250/.