JUDGMENT

JUDGMENT:— The respondent, Marigowda, was the Secretary of the Aladahalli Large-scale Co-operative Society, Mallipatna. He was convicted by the learned First Class Magistrate, Holenarasipura of an offence under S. 408, I. P. C. on a finding that he had committed criminal breach of trust in respect of three sums of money, namely, Rupees 1,500/-, Rs. 175/- and Rs. 100/-, belonging to the Society, In respect of these amounts, he had made entries in the cash book, Ex.P-9(a)P-9(c) and P-9(d) as if the amounts had been drawn from the society and credited into the District Co-operative Central Bank, Hassan. The defence of the respondent was that these amounts had been paid to PW 2, Executive Officer of the Bank, to be deposited with the Central Co-operative Bank. Advantage was sought to be taken of the circumstance that PW 2 had, in fact, deposited three identical sums of money with the Central Co-operative Bank, but, according to the evidence of PW 2, those amounts had been received by him not from the accused but from other persons. A sum of Rs. 1,500 had been received from Mallinathapura Co-operative Society, Mallinathpura and that society had also been given a receipt for tha