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2012 Supreme(Gau) 1224
IN THE HIGH COURT OF GAUHATI (SHILLONG BENCH)
T. Vaiphei, J.
Ravindra Shetty & another – Appellants
Vs.
Narayan Ghosh & other – Respondent
Crl. Pet. No. 63(SH), 64(SH), 66 (SH) of 2011, 1 (SH), 2(SH) & 3 (SH) of 2012
Decided On: 30.10.2012
For Appellant/Petitioner/Plaintiff:Ms. A. Paul, Mr. K. Paul & Mr. S. Thapa, Advocates
For Respondents/Defendant:Mr. P. Nongbri & Mr. N. Mozika, Advocates
Headnote:
Indian Penal Code,1860 - Section 120-B/406/409/417/418/419/420 - Criminal Procedure Code,1973 - Section 482 - Cognizance of offences – Petitions involving a common question of law were taken up for joint hearing and are now being disposed of by this common judgment - For sake of convenience court will first decide Criminal Petition and thereafter apply my decision thereon so far as possible to facts of remaining criminal petitions - Petitioner in Criminal Petition is currently serving as Chief Manager of Vijaya Bank at Nagar Branch and was at relevant time posted at Branch of Bank in same capacity - Sometime in the month of September respondent filed a complaint petition against petitioner and three other persons - Held, These observations have no manner of doubt that a company/corporation cannot escape liability for a criminal offence merely because punishment prescribed is that of imprisonment and fine - Court are of the considered opinion that in view of aforesaid judgment of this court conclusion reached by High Court that respondent could not have necessary is clearly erroneous - allegations made by complainant against petitioner in which are the subject-matter of Criminal Petition and those in which are subject-matter of Criminal Petition are virtually one and same - In these two criminal petitions also petitioner is the Bank in question – In court opinion, as facts are more or less same and are squarely covered by my decision in Criminal Petition it is not necessary to burden this judgment with the detailed leading to the filing of the two criminal petitions. Consequently no case of criminal offence is made out against the petitioner in these two criminal petitions - Petition allowed.
T. Vaiphei, J.
1. This batch of criminal petitions under Section 482 Cr PC involving a common question of law were taken up for joint hearing and are now being disposed of by this common judgment. For the sake of convenience, I will first decide Criminal Petition No. 66(SH) of 2011 and thereafter apply my decision thereon, so far as possible, to the facts of the remaining criminal petitions. The petitioner in Criminal Petition No. 66(SH) of 2011 is currently serving as Chief Manager of Vijaya Bank at Hanumantha Nagar Branch, Bangalore, and was at the relevant time posted at the Shillong Branch of the Bank in the same capacity. Sometime in the month of September, 2011, the respondent filed a complaint petition against the petitioner and three other persons before the learned Chief Judicial Magistrate, Shillong, inter alia, alleging that:-
(a) Vijaya Bank, which is arraigned as the accused No. 1 in the criminal complaint, launched the Jeevan Nidhi Deposit Scheme whereby an authorized Jeevan Nidhi agent collects money from a person, who wishes to deposit at his doorstep.
(b) An individual can choose a deposit period of 12 or 39 or 63 months, with a daily deposit, as low as Rs. 1/.
(c) The petitioner No. 1, the Bank and the accused No. 2 (the current Chief Manager of the Shillong Branch of the Bank) engaged the accused No. 4 (Nilay Kumar Shyam) as its authorized agent for the Scheme for doorstep collection of the deposits from the customers who availed of the Scheme for depositing the same with the Bank.
(d) In the month of October, 2009, the accused No. 4 approached the complainant/ respondent and apprised him of the Scheme and persuaded the respondent to open an account under the Scheme.
(e) The respondent agreed to open the account and accordingly opened the same with the Bank, for which, on 1.11.2009, he was made to sign on the account opening form and opted for a daily deposit of Rs. 500/- (Rupees five hundred) only per day vide Account No. 85010221 1000386.
(f) As required by the Scheme, after 1st November, 2009, the respondent started paying a sum of Rs. 500/- (Rupees five hundred) only per day to the accused No. 4, who has been authorized to collect the Same as their agent. A total of Rs. 1,82,500/- (Rupees one lakh eighty-two thousand and five hundred) only @ Rs. 500/- per day for 365 days i.e. for the period up to 31.10.2010 was thus paid by the respondent to the accused No. 4.
(g) On 23.2.2011, when his deposit got matured, the respondent went to the Bank and requested the accused No. 3 to allow him to withdraw his entire deposit of Rs. 1,82,500/- with the interest accrued thereon. The Bank later on vide their letter dated 12.7.2011 intimated the respondent that only a sum of Rs. 12,500/- (Rupees twelve thousand and five hundred) had been deposited with them as on 30.6.2011, and that he was permitted to withdraw this amount subject to submission of indemnity bond, etc.
(h) The case of the respondent as contended in the criminal complaint petition is that though he deposited a sum of Rs. 1,82,500/- being the deposits for 365 days @ Rs. 500/- per day, the petitioner together with the accused No. 1, 3 and 4 colluded and conspired to cheat him and have thus cheated him and deprived him of his money to the tune of Rs. 1,70,000/- (Rupees one lakh and seventy thousand) only, which is punishable under Section 120-B/406/409/417/418/419/ 420 IPC.
2. The learned Judicial Magistrate 1st Class, Shillong thereafter registered the complaint petition as C.R. Case No. 1247 of 2011, took cognizance of the offences under Section 120-B/406/409/417/418/419/420 IPC and issued summons to the petitioner for his appearance before her. According to the petitioner, the summons did not bear the date on which he was to appear in Court or the date on which the same was issued: it contained only the signature of the presiding officer of the Court. It is the case of the petitioner that the Shillong Branch of the Bank had appointed the accused No. 4 as t
