( 1 ) THE appeal is directed against the judgment in C. C. No. l 1 of 1997 on the file of XXIII Metropolitan Magistrate, hyderabad dated 24. 8. 1999 whereunder the accused were acquitted for the offences under Section 12 of the Passport Act and section 120b read with Section 420 of the indian Penal Code.

( 2 ) THE brief facts that are necessary for the disposal of the present appeal may be stated as follows:

( 3 ) IT is alleged by the prosecution that accused 1 and 2 entered into a criminal conspiracy in the year 1992 and obtained three passports bearing Nos. M-729715, p252087 and M621674 in the name of A-2 from the Office of the Regional Passport officer, Hyderabad by suppressing the fact of issuance of previous passport and by furnishing false information, documents, certificates and dishonestly induced the competent authority and that Accused No. l produced the above passports before the u. S. Consulate at Madras for obtaining Visa to go to the U. S. A. and accordingly he attended the said office on 22. 7. 1993 and on 4. 8. 1993. In the month of October, 1993 p. W. I received a letter dated 19. 10. 1993 from the Office of the Consulate General of u. S. A. , Madras stating that the accused rakesh Kumar Devda appeared before him and represented that he did not appear for visa earlier but on verification of records they found that the said person appeared earlier for obtaining Visa on a different passport. Thereupon, PW-11 made enquiries in this regard in the Regional Passport office and informed the same to the superintendent of Police, P. W. I3 registered a case under Section 120b IPC and section 12 of the Passport Act. He visited the scene of occurrence and collected the documents from the Passport Office. He also visited the U. S. Consulate Office at madras and collected the copies of visa applications standing in the name of a-2 Rakesh Kumar Devda. Thereafter he collected the specimen writings of the accused under Ex. P-9 and sent the same to p. W.-12 Expert. P. W.-12, after comparison of the disputed handwriting with the handwriting sent by the police, opined that both were written by the same person. After completion of investigation and after obtaining sanction, P. W-13 filed the chargesheet.

( 4 ) TO substantiate the case of the prosecution, it examined 13 witnesses and marked 25 documents. On an elaborate consideration of the evidence on record, the lower Court came to the conclusion that the prosecution failed to prove that the accused had entered into criminal conspiracy and cheated the passport authorities by furnishing false information and suppressing the real facts and accordingly both the accused were acquitted for the charges levelled against them.

( 5 ) THE first charge against the accused under Section 420 IPC is for giving false information and suppressing the real facts and dishonestly inducing the competent authority. The second charge is under section 120-B IPC on the ground that they entered into criminal conspiracy to obtain passports from the Regional passport Office, Hyderabad. The third charge is under Section 12 of the Passport Act, 1967 on the ground that they gave false documents and certificates in order to obtain three passports.

( 6 ) THE learned Counsel appearing for the Public Prosecutor contends that on the basis of the information given by one Rakesh kumar Devda he processed the application ex. P-1 and Ex. P-2 passport was issued and the same is collected by Pax Tours and travels, Hyderabad and therefore it is clear that Rakesh Kumar Devda, who is no other than A-2, obtained passport by giving false information and the sample handwritings of A-2 were tallied with the disputed handwriting in certain documents as seen from the evidence of P. W-12 and the totality of the circumstances would indicate that it is A-2 who gave the false information and obtained passport and therefore the learned Magistrate ought to have convicted the accused for the charges levelled against them.

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