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2015 Supreme(SC) 1177

SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
H.L. Dattu, CJI., Arun Mishra, J.
K.M. Krishnaraj @ Rajabatar - Appellant
Versus
State of Tamil Nadu Rep. By Inspector - Respondent
Criminal Appeal No. 1693 of 2010
Decided on : 16.9.2015

Advocates:
Advocate Appeared:
For the Appellant: G.M. Akbar Ali, V. Balaji, Atul Sharma, Asaithambi, Sripradha, Narendra Kumar
For the Respondent: M. Yogesh Kanna, Jayant Patel

Headnote:

Indian Penal Code, 1860 - Sections 467, 468, 471 r/w 468, 419 and 420 – Criminal Trial – Bank - Forgery of valuable security, will, etc and Cheating - Appeal against conviction - Appellant impersonated himself and obtained a demand draft from Union Bank - Appellant altered amount mentioned in demand draft from Rs.10/- to Rs.1,35,000/- and gave said demand draft to M/s. Ramesh Automobiles and Finance Consultants - He thereafter purchased a car (Standard 2000) bearing registration for Rs.1,25,000/- on 23.03.1994 - Demand draft was presented before Andhra Bank - (PW-1), Manager of Union Bank suspected demand draft and intimated the bank - He later came to know that amount has been already withdrawn by Mr. Ramesh, proprietor of M/s. Ramesh Automobiles and Finance Consultants - PW-1 had gone to M/s. Ramesh Automobiles and Finance Consultants, along with his staff - At that time, Mr. Ramesh had identified appellant - Held, Court opinion the contentions raised have already been adequately addressed by High Court wherein High Court has rightly observed that non-examination of bank official and the said proprietor would not prove to be fatal to case of prosecution considering other incriminating evidence available on record and circumstances of present case - Learned senior counsel would submit that incident is of 1994 and long time has elapsed since then, hence sentence be reduced - Taking into account serious nature of offence committed sentence cannot be reduced - There is no good ground for interference in impugned judgment and order by High Court - Appeal is dismissed.

ORDER :

1. This appeal is directed against the judgment and order passed by the High Court of Judicature at Madras in Criminal Revision Case No. 1700 of 2004, dated 10.11.2009. By the impugned judgment and order, the High Court has confirmed the order of conviction and sentence passed by the Court of Additional District and Sessions Judge, Chennai convicting the appellant for the offence under Sections 467, 468, 471 read with Sections 468, 419 and 420 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (for short, "the IPC")

2. Brief facts of the prosecution case are:

On 21.03.1994, the appellant impersonated himself as Rajabathr and obtained a demand draft bearing No. 9837/2510 for Rs.10/- from Union Bank of India, Anukkavur Branch, South Arcot District. The appellant altered the amount mentioned in the demand draft from Rs.10/- to Rs.1,35,000/- and gave the said demand draft to M/s. Ramesh Automobiles and Finance Consultants. He thereafter purchased a car (Standard 2000) bearing registration No. TSA 4536 for Rs.1,25,000/- on 23.03.1994. The demand draft was presented before the Andhra Bank, Triplicane Branch.

3. One N. Gopalaswamy (PW-1), Manager of Union Bank suspected the demand draft and intimated the bank. He later came to know that the amount has been already withdrawn by Mr. Ramesh, proprietor of M/s. Ramesh Automobiles and Finance Consultants. PW-1 had gone to M/s. Ramesh Automobiles and Finance Consultants, along with his staff. At that time, Mr. Ramesh had identified the appellant. The appellant was caught hold of and handed over to the police on 25.03.1994. One Syed Razak, Sub-Inspector of Police (PW-6) registered a case under Sections 419, 420, 467, 468, 471 IPC read with 468 of the IPC and prepared the FIR. PW-6 then examined the appellant in the presence of Krishnamoorthy (PW-2) and N. Sankar (PW-3). The appellant gave a confession stating that he was ready to hand over the car, which was in breakdown stage. On 26.03.1994, PW-6 seized the car in presence of one Venkataraj and on the same day he also seized Rs.9000/- from Mr. Ramesh. Further, specimen and signatures of the appellant were sent to the Forensic Sciences Department and the expert gave his report. After the completion of investigation charge-sheet was filed. The charges were framed under Sections 419, 467, 468, 471 read with Section 468 and Section 420 of the IPC to which the appellant pleaded not guilty and the case was committed to trial.

4. The prosecution examined six witnesses in order to substantiate its case. After the closure of the prosecution evidence, statement of the appellant under Section 313 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 was recorded and he denied the evidence.

5. The learned Magistrate after examining the evidence on record observed that the appellant in his defense had pleaded that he was a mentally affected person during the period in 1992-1996 and during that period he was incapable of understanding what he has done. It was observed that the appellant has not adduced sufficient evidence in that regard, and only submitted the prescriptions. The learned Magistrate came to the conclusion that the appellant is guilty and convicted him under Sections 467, 468, 471 read with 468, 419 and 420 and imposed a sentence of one year rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs.500/- for each count and in default of payment of fine, further rigorous imprisonment of three months for each of the offences, by order dated 05.09.2000. The sentences were ordered to run concurrently.

6. Aggrieved by the order so passed by the learned Magistrate, the appellant preferred an appeal before the First Appellate Court. After a detailed examination of oral and documentary evidence on record, the First Appellate Court concurred with the findings of the learned Magistrate and affirmed the order of conviction and sentence passed by the learned Magistrate, by order dated 05.09.2004.

7. Aggrieved by the order so passed by the First Appellate Court, the appellant filed Criminal Revision befo










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