JUDGMENT - 1. This criminal reference raises an important question of law regarding the liability of a corporate body for indictment on a criminal charge involving the question of mens rea.

2. The opponent No. 1, Messrs. Syndicate Transport Company, (Private) Limited is a company incorporated under the Indian Companies Act (Act No. 7 of 1917), with its registered office at Nagpur. I shall refer to it as the Company hereafter The opponent No. 3, Chintaman, is the Managing Director of the Company, while the opponents Nos. 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 are its ordinary directors. The opponent No. 9 Manohar is an ordinary shareholder of the Company. This Manohar wrote a letter to the complainant Khemka Motors (Opponent No. 2) to request for an advance of Rs. 11,000/- to the Company for the purchase or a diesel engine. The letter also stated that the diesel engine, when purchased, would be filled to the Companys bus No. BYY-610, and that bus would then be transferred in the name of the complainant and would be run by the Company on hire purchase agreement till the satisfaction of the advance of Rs. 11,000/-. Accordingly, the complainant agreed to advance Rs. 11,000/- and paid that amount in cash to t

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