M. S. NESARGI, J.

( 1 ) IN all eighteen persons were charge-sheeted, in regard to the offence pertaining to counterfeiting of currency notes of Rs. 2/- denomination, in C. C. No. 6 of 1968 in the Court of the Munsiff-Magistrate, Kadur. Four persons namely Sundaram Chettiar, Velu, Govindaswamy and Babu, who were arraigned as A-15, A-16, A-17 and A-18 in the chargesheet were shown to be absconding. Shivananda or Shivanna who was arrayed as A-3 in the charge-sheet died while he was apprehended. As A-16 to A-18 were absconding, the case against them was split up and the case against the 13 remaining accused was taken up. They were committed to the Court of session in Chickmagalur. The case was registered as S. C. No. 5 of 1970. The learned Sessions judge, acquitted the said accused of all the charges. A-7 before the learned Sessions Judge was h. C. Virappa. He was acquitted as the Special Public Prosecutor, who prosecuted the case there, fairly made a statement that there was no case against him.

( 2 ) IN this appeal, the State has challenged the judgment of acquittal of the remaining 12 accused who were arraigned as A-l to A-6 and A-8 to A-12.

( 3 ) FOR easy understanding of the development of the events leading to this case, we refer to the respondents before us by their respective accused numbers and to Sundaram Chettiar as A-15.

( 4 ) BY 18-7-1968, P. W. 1 A. R. Basappa purchased a land from P. W. 2 Thimmabovi. The sale deed was to be registered on 18-7-1968. P. W. 5 Venkatara-maiah, shanbhog and scribe wrote the sale deed Ex. P-l. P. W. 1 was to pay Rs. 35/-to P. W. 5 as his remuneration. P. W. 1 paid four currency notes of Rs. 10/- denomination to P. W. 5. P. W. 5 was to return Rs. 5/- to P. W. 1 after taking his remuneration of Rs. 35/ -. P. Ws. 5 and 1 went to the bus stand at Kadur. P. W. 5 went to the box shop of A-10 Makbul Ahmed to secure change for a currency note of Rs. 10/-denomination. P. W. 5 handed a Rs. 10/-denomination currency note to A-10 and asked for change. A-10 gave one currency notes of Rs. 5/- denomination and three currency notes of Re. 1/- denomination and one currency note of Rs. 2/- denomination to P. W. 5. P. W. 5 gave the currency note of Rs. 5/- denomination to P. W. 1 and P. W. 1 went away. P. W. 5 wanted to purchase two quires of paper and hence went to the shop of P. W. 4 Ranganatha Setty where P. W. 3 K. T. Srinivasa Murthy, the brother of P. W. 4 was also present. In fact both of them own that stationery shop. P. W. 5 purchased two quires of white-paper and tendered the currency note of rs. 2/- denomination which he had received from A-10. P. W. 4 felt that it was not a genuine note and he examined it and believed that it was a counterfeit note. He told P. W. 5 accordingly and asked P. W. 5 to lodge a complaint to the police. P. Ws. 3 and 5 went to the police station at kadur where P. W. 74 M. C. Narayanappa was the Sub-Inspector of Police. P. W. 5 handed over the currency note of Rs. 2/- denomination which is marked as M. O. 1 in this case and gave information as per Ex. P-2. P. W. 74 registered a case. P. W. 5, P. W 74 and two panchas P. W. 6 gopal Krishna and P. W. 15 P. Krishna-swamy who were secured by P. W. 74 went to the shop of a-10. P. W. 74 arrested A-10 and interrogated him. A-10 gave information as per Ex. P-406 narrating that he had 13 notes of Rs. 2/- denomination in his pocket. He produced those 13 notes which are marked as M. Os. 3 to 15, which P. W. 74 sealed and seized under the panchanama Ex. P-4. A-10 then led the party to his house and produced a shaving box in which a currency note of rs. 2/- denomination was found. It is marked as M. O. 17. It was sealed and seized under the panchanama Ex. P-5. He then led the party to the house of A-9 Visweswaraiah who was working as Shroff in the local Taluk treasury. A-9 was lying on his bed at that time. P. W. 74 arrested him and interrogated him. He gave information as per Ex. P-407 and produced a greenish blue bag from under

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