The central legal point established in the judgment is that in criminal cases, the burden of proof rests entirely on the prosecution, and suspicion cannot replace proof.

I.A. Ansari, J.

1. This is an appeal against the judgment and order dated 27-12-2002, passed by the learned ad hoc Additional Sessions Judge No. 1, Kamrup, convicting the accused-appellant Under Section 489B IPC and sentencing him to suffer simple imprisonment for seven years and to pay a fine of Rs. 5,000/- and, in default of payment of fine, to undergo simple imprisonment for a further period of six months.

2. The case against the accused-appellant, as projected at the trial, was, in brief, as follows :

On 12-03-1997, accused-appellant, Sri Krishna Kanta Das, an employee of M/s Assam Tribune Private Limited, came to the United Bank of India, Fancy Bazar Branch, for obtaining a Bank Draft and in the process of tendering the currency notes for the purpose of obtaining the draft, he tendered as many as six fake currency notes of Rs. 500/-denomination each. The cashier, at the bank, in the process of counting the said currency notes, found six of the notes as fake and brought the same, immediately, to the notice of the Branch Manager, Saradandu Bhattacharjee. On a telephonic inquiry made by the Branch Manager, M/s Assam Tribune Private Limited informed the Branch Manager that they had not sent any currency note of Rs. 500/- denomination. When the process was on to determine as to whether the notes tendered by the accused-appellant were fake or not, the accused-appellant appeared there and, upon coming to know that six of the currency notes tendered by him to the bank were being considered as fake, he snatched away the said notes, put the same into his mouth, but when he was chewing the said notes, he was overpowered by the bank employees with the help of their security guard and the said fake notes were recovered from the possession of the accused-appellant. On the First Information Report being lodged by the said Branch Manager, police registered a case against the accused-appellant and a search of the person of the accused-appellant by police also led to the recovery of two more fake notes, one of Rs. 10/- denomination and the other one was of Rs. 100/-denomination, whereupon the police seized the said fake notes, got the same examined by one Prabhat Goswami, Treasurer of Reserve Bank of India, who opined that the said seized currency notes were fake ones. On completion of the investigation, chargesheet was laid against the accused-appellant Under Section 489B IPC.

3. During trial, the accused-appellant pleaded not guilty to the charge framed against him Under Section 489B IPC. In support of their case, prosecution examined five witnesses. The learned trial Court also examined, as a Court witness, Nihar Ranjan Mazumdar, who was cash clerk of United Bank of India, at the relevant time, at its said Branch and to whom the currency notes were allegedly tendered by the accused-appellant for the purpose of obtaining the bank draft. The accused-appellant was, then, examined Under Section 313 Cr.P.C. and in his examination aforementioned, the accused-appellant denied that he had committed the offence alleged to have been committed by him, the case of the defence being that the accused-appellant never handed over any fake note as alleged by the prosecution witnesses and no fake currency note was ever found in his possession. No evidence was, however, adduced by the defence. On the conclusion of the trial, the learned trial Court found the accused guilty of the charge framed against him and convicted him accordingly and passed sentence against him as hereinabove mentioned.

4. I have heard Mr. J. M. Choudhury, learned senior counsel assisted by Mr. D. M. Choudhury, and Mr. A. Bora, learned counsel for the accused-appellant, and Mr. F.H. Laskar, learned Public Prosecutor, Assam for the respondents.

5. From the evidence of PW 1 (Saradindu Bhattacharjee) who was, at the relevant time, Manager of United Bank of India, at Fancy Bazar, it transpires that on 12-03-1997, while he was working as Manager at UBI, Fancy Bazar, at about 12/12.30 PM