P. Unnikrishna Kurup, J.

1. Unnikrishna Kurup J. The plaintiff in O.S. No. 11 of 1961 on the file of the Sub Court of Trivandrum, a bank in liquidation, is the appellant. The Bank filed the suit out of which this appeal arises for recovery of Rs. 54,362/- with interest at 6% from defendants 1 to 5 and the assets of one deceased Arumugham Asari whose legal representatives are defendants 6 to 9. The first defendant was the cashier of the plaintiff bank, the second defendant the agent and the third defendant the assistant cashier, during the relevant period. The 4th defendant was the teller of the bank and deceased Arumugham Asari was the jewel appraiser. The 5th defendant was a long standing customer of the plaintiff bank and he was operating a gold re-pledge cash credit account with the bank having a sanctioned credit limit of Rs. 75,000/-. The plaintiff's case was that defendants 1 and 5 with the active connivance and cooperation of defendants 2 to 4 and deceased Arumugham Asari defrauded the bank and made illegal gains for themselves. It would appear that defendants 1 and 5 with the knowledge of the other officers of the bank systematically overvalued the jewels brought by