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High Court of Andhra Pradesh
SAMUDRALA GOVINDARAJULU
The Public Prosecutor, High Court of A.P.
Versus
Avu Venkataramana & Others
CRIMINAL APPEAL No.2302 of 2004
Decided On : 07-02-2012
Indian Penal Code, 1860 - Section 411 , 410 – Criminal – Appeal - Against - Acquittal – Licensed stamp vendor - Conducting sale of stamps in a bunk abutting compound wall of Sub-Registrar’s office, A-3 and A-4 are alleged to be close associates It is alleged that after closing the transactions, sale proceeds of the stamps to the tune was secured in cash chest of the Sub-Registrar’s office, and it was kept in steel in the record room as happened to be a Sunday which is a holiday. It is alleged that on at about is sweeper of that office went to the office premises for sweeping the same, she found main door in open condition without lock and reported the same to P.W-1 who is senior assistant in that office and that P.W-1 rushed to the office along with and found main door as well as door of record room in open condition without any locks and also found steel meddled and opened and that when he checked he found cash chest containing missing from the shelf and that when he verified stamps kept in with help of staff, he found stealing of worth special adhesive stamps worth Court fees labels worth and A.P. Advocates Welfare Fund stamps worth total worth being – It is further alleged by the prosecution that during the course of investigation, Inspector of Police arrested A-1 at his residence on at presence of mediators and that in pursuance of his confessional statement, A-1 produced cash of and N.J. stamps worth which were seized under the cover of mediators’ report and that the Inspector of Police also seized stock and sales registers maintained by A-1 for his stamp vending business under the cover of mediators’ report and that A-1 lead the police and mediators to a spot behind Krishna Jute mill and on pointing out the place by A-1, Inspector of Police seized cash chest along with soaked indent forms after retrieving the same from waters through a swimmer and that the Inspector of Police along with mediators proceeded to village to the house of parents-in-law of and that on questioning, A-2 produced stolen stamps worth and that Inspector of Police arrested A-2 and seized the said stamp papers under the cover of mediators’ report and that A-1 also lead the police party and the mediators to at 8.00 P.M. on the same day, where Rs.20,000/-being sale proceeds of the stamps was seized under the cover of mediators’ report – Held, Benefit of doubt to the accused on the ground that there is no identity of the stolen property seized property as part of the stolen property by way of any identity marks or numbers. P.W-1 identified M.Os 4 to 26, 35 and 37 to be stolen properties from the sub-registrar’s office on the date of incident. In cross-examination P.W-1 stated that there are no special identification marks on the stamps, except on the stamps of the denomination which contained code numbers. The stamps seized consisted of 88 stamps from stamps seized from A-2 as per M.O-13, 80 stamps seized from A-3 as per stamps seized from A-4 as per M.O-17 which are all of Rs.100/-denomination; and they were all seized under respective mediators reports by mentioning their code numbers also. P.W-1 identifies all the stamps including the above stamps of Rs.100/-denomination as stolen properties from his office. A-1 could not explain as to how he knew about location of stolen cash chest in tank water behind Krishna Jute Mill At instance of A-1, M.O-41 stolen cash chest was recovered in this case – There is also no explanation on the part of and A4 as to how and why they came to be in possession non-judicial stamps respectively and for what purpose – Appeal is partly allowed.
This is an appeal against acquittal filed by the State. The Additional Judicial Magistrate of the First Class, Bobbili by judgment dated 26.02.2003 in C.C. No.282 of 1996 acquitted the respondents 1 to 4/A-1 to A-4 of the offence under Section 411 I.P.C. A-1 and A-2 are brothers. A-1 is a licensed stamp vendor of Sitanagaram. He was conducting sale of stamps in a bunk abutting compound wall of Sub-Registrar’s office, Bobbili. A-3 and A-4 are alleged to be close associates of A-1. It is alleged that on 27.11.1996 after closing the transactions, sale proceeds of the stamps to the tune of Rs.43,247/-was secured in cash chest of the Sub-Registrar’s office, Bobbili and it was kept in steel almirah in the record room as 28.01.1996 happened to be a Sunday which is a holiday. It is alleged that on 29.01.1996 at about 6.30 A.M when P.W-2 who is sweeper of that office went to the office premises for sweeping the same, she found main door in open condition without lock and reported the same to P.W-1 who is senior assistant in that office and that P.W-1 rushed to the office along with attender and found main door as well as door of record room in open condition without any locks and also found steel almirah meddled and opened and that when he checked the almirah he found cash chest containing Rs.43,247/-missing from the shelf and that when he verified stamps kept in almirah with the help of staff, he found stealing of N.J.stamps worth Rs.6,68,500/-, special adhesive stamps worth Rs.4,44,000/-, Court fees labels worth Rs.51,440/-and A.P. Advocates Welfare Fund stamps worth Rs.11,520/-, total worth being Rs.11,75,460/-. It is further alleged by the prosecution that during the course of investigation, Inspector of Police, Bobbili arrested A-1 at his residence on 09.06.1996 at 9.00 A.M in the presence of mediators and that in pursuance of his confessional statement, A-1 produced cash of Rs.35,000/-and N.J. stamps worth Rs.1,57,410/-(M.Os 1 to 11) which were seized under the cover of mediators’ report and that the Inspector of Police also seized stock and sales registers (M.Os 42 to 44) maintained by A-1 for his stamp vending business under the cover of mediators’ report and that A-1 lead the police and mediators to a spot behind Gopala Krishna Jute mill, Bobbili and on pointing out the place by A-1, Inspector of Police seized cash chest along with soaked indent forms after retrieving the same from waters through a swimmer and that the Inspector of Police along with mediators proceeded to Chintalavalasa village to the house of parents-in-law of A-2 on 09.06.1996 at 5.30 P.M. and that on questioning, A-2 produced stolen stamps worth Rs.4,84,618/-(M.Os 12 to 27) and that Inspector of Police arrested A-2 and seized the said stamp papers under the cover of mediators’ report and that A-1 also lead the police party and the mediators to Gayatri Finance, Bobbili at 8.00 P.M. on the same day, where Rs.20,000/-being sale proceeds of the stamps was seized under the cover of mediators’ report. It is further alleged that on 12.06.1996 the police obtained police custody of A-1 through Court and that on 13.06.1996 at 9.00 A.M. Inspector of Police seized cash of Rs.8,000/-from P.W-6 under the cover of mediators’ report, as the amount represented sale proceeds of stolen stamps, which amount was paid to her towards repayment of loan. It is further alleged that when A-3 surrendered before the Magistrate, police custody of A-3 was obtained by the investigating officer and that in pursuance of confession of A-3, Inspector of police seized cash of Rs.5,000/-and N.J. stamps worth Rs.8,000/-(M.O-35) under the cover of mediators’ report and that A-4 was arrested on 07.12.1997 and that in pursuance of his confessional statement he led the police party and mediators to his temporary accommodation at Gajuwaka, Visakhapatnam after he was taken to police custody from the Magistrate and that cash of Rs.2,000/-and stamps worth Rs.1,900/-(M.O-37) were recovered at h
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