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2019 Supreme(Cal) 748
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT CALCUTTA
JOYMALYA BAGCHI, SUVRA GHOSH, JJ.
Purna Chandra Soren – Petitioner
Versus
The State of West Bengal – Respondent
CRA. No. 633 of 2011
Decided On : 10-12-2019
For the Petitioner:M. Chatterjee, B. Hutait, S. Bhattacharya, Advocates.
For the Respondent:Arun Kumar Maiti, Advocate.
The main legal point established is that the appellant's actions constituted criminal breach of trust under Section 409 of the Indian Penal Code.
Headnote:
Criminal Breach of Trust - Indian Penal Code - Section 409, Section 468, Section 420
Fact of the Case:
The appellant, an Assistant Manager at Indian Bank, was convicted of misappropriating funds by availing unauthorized loans and diverting bank income to his personal account. The appellant admitted to the acts in a letter and undertook to repay the amount.
Finding of the Court:
The court found the appellant guilty of committing criminal breach of trust by defalcating public money in his official capacity as an Assistant Manager of the bank. The court reduced the appellant's sentence to the period already undergone during the appeal.
Issues: The main issue was whether the appellant's actions constituted criminal breach of trust under Section 409 of the Indian Penal Code.
Ratio Decidendi: The court relied on the appellant's admission in the letter, the evidence of the defacto complainant and other witnesses, and the provisions of Section 409 of the Indian Penal Code to establish the appellant's guilt.
Final Decision: The court affirmed the judgment and order of conviction, reducing the appellant's sentence to the period already undergone and directing the appellant to pay a fine of Rs.5,000.
Judgment :
Suvra Ghosh, J.
1. The criminal appeal is directed against judgment and order of conviction dated 24-08-2011 passed by the learned Additional Sessions Judge, 1st Court (Special Court), Paschim Medinipur in Special Trial No. 12 of 2004. By the judgment impugned, the learned trial court convicted the appellant and sentenced him to suffer rigorous imprisonment for 10 (ten) years and to pay fine of Rs.5000/- (Rupees five thousand only), in default, to suffer rigorous imprisonment for another two years.
2. One Ashim Chakraborty, branch manager of Indian Bank, Kharagpur branch at the relevant time and defacto complainant of the case, lodged complaint before Kharagpur police station to the effect that the accused- appellant Purna Chandra Soren joined Kharagpur branch of the bank on 08-06-2000 as Assistant Manager on account of his transfer from Indian Bank, Allahabad branch and accordingly, his N.S.C. II loan account was also transferred to his new place of posting along with documents pertaining to the said loan. The accused was entrusted with the charge of the loan section of the bank and dealt with loans with regard to other staff of the bank, members of public as well as his own loan account. The defacto complainant alleged that accused Purna Chandra Soren availed of additional loan on 19 occasions amounting to rupees 3,12,882/- without pledging the necessary N.S.Cs to secure the said loan and without obtaining any sanction therefor from the competent authority, in violation of the rules of the bank, thereby defalcating the entire fund. The accused availed of other loans of considerable amount similarly and made fictitious entries so that his loan account appeared to be closed, in order to escape scrutiny during regular inspection of the bank. Further, the accused disbursed additional loan on nine occasions to Akshoy Mukherjee without sanction of the competent authority, thereby causing huge financial loss to the bank. The accused admitted his acts in his letter dated 21-04-2004 and undertook to make good the loss incurred by the bank, thereby admitting his guilt.
3. On receipt of the complaint, KGP(T) police station case no. 273 of 2004 dated 25-10-2004 under Section 409/468/420 of the Indian Penal Code (in short the IPC) was started. After completion of the investigation, charge sheet was submitted against the accused- appellant under Section 409/468/420 of the IPC. The case was committed to the court of the Ld. Sessions Judge and subsequently transferred to the Ld. Additional Sessions Judge, 1st Court (Special Court), Paschim Medinipur for trial. Charge was framed against the accused- appellant under Section 409 of the IPC. Substance of accusation was read over and explained to the accused to which he pleaded not guilty and claimed to be tried. Accordingly, the prosecution examined three witnesses in support of its case and the defense case, as it appears from the trend of cross examination as well as statement of the accused under Section 313 of the Cr.P.C, is a denial of the prosecution case and a plea of innocence.
4. PW-1 Mala Soren is the husband of the appellant and appears to have no knowledge about the offence.
5. PW-2 who is the defacto complainant stated that loans were disbursed by the accused to several borrowers on various occasions without pledging N.S.C in violation of the rules of the bank and income of the bank was diverted to his personal account on several occasions. The matured amounts of the N.S.Cs were encashed by the accused without forwarding the same to the bank. Such N.S.Cs ought to have been encashed by the bank from the post office upon maturity but as the same were not pledged with the bank, the bank had no access to them. Twenty-six such certificates in the name of the accused were seized by the investigating officer in course of investigation and the sundry deposit ledger sheets of the bank revealed that an amount of Rs.4,16,012/- was deposited by the accused with the bank on 23-04- 2004 and
