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Andhra Pradesh High Court
Judges : CHANDRA REDDY
Public Prosecutor - Appellant
Versus
THALL GANGADHARUDU - Respondent
Decided On : 01-06-56
CRIMINAL LAW - CHEATING - ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS - FALSE REPRESENTATION - DAMAGE OR HARM - FORGERY - MAKING FALSE DOCUMENT - INTENT - ALTERATION OF DOCUMENT - ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS.
Fact of the Case:
The accused were charged with cheating, forgery, and using a forged document. The prosecution alleged that the accused obtained a loan from a bank by making false representations about the assets of their cooperative society. The accused denied the charges.
Finding of the Court:
The court found that the prosecution had not established that the accused had made any false representations. The court also found that the accused had not forged any documents or used any forged documents.
Issues: 1. Whether the accused had made any false representations to obtain the loan. 2. Whether the accused had forged any documents or used any forged documents.
Ratio Decidendi: 1. To constitute the offence of cheating under Section 420 of the Indian Penal Code, there must be a direct connection between the false representation and the delivery of the property. In this case, the bank granted the loan based on the report of its supervisor, not on the representations made by the accused. 2. To constitute the offence of forgery under Section 463 of the Indian Penal Code, the document must be purported to have been signed, made, or sealed by a person who did not in fact do it. In this case, the accused did not make any false documents.
Final Decision: The court dismissed the appeal and acquitted the accused.
( 1 ) THIS appeal is preferred by the State Government against the judgment of the Assistant Sessions judge, Narasapur, West Godavari Division of narasapur, acquitting the five respondents (accused 1 to 5 ). The 1st respondent was the president, the 2nd respondent the Vice-President and the 5th respondent one of the directors of Bhimavaram Co-operative Production and Sale society, respondents 3 and 4 being the paid secretary and the clerk respectively thereof. They were tried by the Assistant Sessions Judge for offences under Ss. 465, 468, 471 and 420 all read with S. 34 I. P. C. The main, charge against them was that they obtained from the Krishna Co-operative Central bank a loan of Rs. . 35,000/ in July 1950 on false representations. According to the prosecution, the application for loan made on 7-7-1950 by accused 1, 2, 3 and 5 contained an incorrect statement of stocks of yarn and finished goods and of a cash balance with the Society. It was also alleged that a document purporting to be a copy of the resolution passed by all the directors requesting the Krishna Go-operative Central Bank to lend Rs. 35,000/- was also annexed.
( 2 ) THE plea of all the accused was mainly one of denial. The Assistant sessions Judge did not accept the prosecution case either that the loan application furnished false particulars or no resolution was passed as indicated in ex. P-14, appended to the loan application. The first question that arises for consideration is whether all or any of the respondents are guilty of an offence under S. 420 I. P. C. At the outset, it may be mentioned that there is nothing to implicate the 4th accused a clerk employed in the Prcduction Society in the alleged crime. The only thing that is attributed to him is that he wrote the account-books. Nor has the Public Prosecutor made any attempt to show that he is guilty of any offence.
( 3 ) THE basis of the accusation as regards others is that the representations contained in the loan application and in the annexures thereto were false this in its turn is founded on the figures mentioned in the statements of stocks of yarn and finished goods as prepared by P. W. 3 and the opening balance as contained in Ex. P-24 the account-book maintained by the Society. It is urged that a comparison of the amounts contained in both the sets of documents reveals the falsity of the recitals in the loan application. While ex. P-22 shows the value of the stock of finished goods as Rs. 15,356-0-9 ex. P-15 the statement annexed to the loan application shows the figure as rs. 16,468-4-0. Similarly, there is a difference of about Rs. 8,000/- with regard to the stocks of yarn. As regards the opening balance, while the account-books disclose a sum of Rs. 25,547-6-0 the loan application mentions the cash balance as only Rs. 3,839-13-0 and a bank balance of Rs. 48-11-0. The Assistant Sessions Judge after an elaborate discussion of the matter found that the presecution had not established that the representations contained in the application or the annexures were false or are even incorrect. The learned Public Prosecutor could not place any materials before me to displace this finding. Granting that the figures given therein are incorrect and therefore amount to false representations, does the case fall under S. 420 i. P. C. or in other words, is it cheating as defined by S. 415 I. P. C. ? s. 415 of the Indian Penal Code enacts :"whoever, by deceiving any person, fradulently or dishonestly induces the person so deceived to deliver any property to any person, or to consent that any person shall retain any property, or intentionally induces the person so deceived to do or omit to do anything which he would not do or omit if he were not so deceived, and which act or omission caused or is likely to cause damage or harm to that person in body, mind, reputation or property, is said to cheat . Explanation.-A dishonest concealment of facts is a deception within the meaning of this sect
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