( 1 ) THIS appeal has been preferred by the State against the judgment of acquittal passed by the Special Judge, Bellary, in Spl. Case No. 27/1984, dated 31/03/1987. The respondent was charged of having committed offences punishable under Ss. 409 and 201 of the Penal Code and S. 5 (2) read with S. 5 (1) (d) of the Prevention of Corruption Act and also u/ss. 52 and 53 of the Post Office Act.

( 2 ) WE may only briefly state the facts of the case since we have decided to send back the mattes to the trial Court for examination of the accused afresh u/s. 313 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, hereinafter referred to as 'the Code'. The case of the prosecution was that the respondent was a Mail Guard in the Railway Mail Service working in the Hubli Division. On the 15th of October, 1983, his duty was to guard the mail from Hubli to Guntakal and back. It appears that on that day, when the respondent was on duty between Guntakal and Hubli, the mail consisted of gold, gold jewellery as well as cash sent by various parties from Madras to Belgaum. When the mail reached Belgaum and the bags were opened it was found that though seal of the outer bag was intact, the inner bags had been