The court concluded that the prima facie evidence warranted a trial against the accused for serious allegations of forgery and conspiracy related to illegal admissions, despite the defense's claims.

ORDER :
A. BADHARUDEEN, J

The 2nd accused in C.C. No. 40 of 2021 on the files of the Enquiry Commissioner and Special Judge, Thiruvananthapuram, has filed this Crl.M.C. seeking quashment of Annexure A2 final report and the further proceedings thereof in CC No. 40 of 2021 pending before the Enquiry Commissioner and Special Judge, Thiruvananthapuram.

2. Heard the learned counsel for the petitioner and the learned public prosecutor. Perused the records, including the relevant statements of the witnesses.

3. The prosecution alleges commission of offences punishable under section 13(2) r/w 13(1)(d) of the Prevention of Corruption Act as well as section 468, 471, and 120B of the IPC by the accused. The prosecution allegation in a nutshell is as follows:-

4. Sri. Yunus Kunju (A1), being the Manager of Abdulla Kunju Memorial Higher Secondary School, Mylapur (for short, ‘AKMHSS, Mylapur), entered into criminal conspiracy with the then teacher-in-charge of the Headmaster, Sri. Saeendrababu(A2), the former Headmistress Smt. Ushakumari (A3) and in furtherance of the said conspiracy, A2 dishonestly made 16 fake admissions in STD VIII using forged TCs and applications during 2002 and enhanced the roll strength of the school, thereby secured 3 additional division (one in STD IX and two in STD VIII) and 3 HSA posts and thereby facilitated an opportunity to Al to appoint 3 HSAs. Later on also A3 dishonestly did not make any verification and continued the illegal admissions made by A2 and also continued the admission of about 10 students who discontinued from the school at different times before reaching STD X as per the roll strength, instead of removing from the records and the aforementioned illegal acts caused undue advantage to Al to make appointment of 3 HSAs causing a loss of Rs.1,08,000/- to the Government in an year. Thus, accused 1 to 3 with dishonest intention, committed forgery, falsification of records, and criminal misconduct.

5. While challenging the final report, the learned counsel for the petitioner argued that, the petitioner who is arrayed as the 2nd accused worked in the school only from 01.04.1997 till 31.07.2002 and the allegation in the FIR regarding absence of 19 students in the SSLC Examination during March 2005 was not during the tenure of the petitioner. It is also pointed out that the petitioner never held the post of Headmaster or any supervisory post in AKMHSS, Mylapur run by the 1st accused, where the 3rd accused was the headmistress. It is argued further that the crime was detected only on 29.08.2011, and thereby the FIR was registered after nine years, and the final report was filed again at a much belated stage on 30.09.2021. According to the learned counsel for the petitioner, the allegations against the petitioner are not specifically made out prima facie, and therefore, he is entitled to get the proceedings against him quashed.

6. Opposing contention, the learned public prosecutor argued that, as submitted by the learned counsel for the petitioner, the petitioner worked in the school in between 01.04.1997 to 31.07.2002, and during the period of occurrence, he had worked as Headmaster in charge of the school. During his tenure, he created false Transfer Certificates as that of the Government U P School, Kadakkal, and by using the same as genuine, he admitted 16 students as on 31.05.2002 and 05.06.2002. During investigation, CWs 12, 15, and 16, who were recorded as admitted in AKMHSS, Mylapur, on the strength of the fake transfer certificates issued from the Government UP School, Kadakkal, given statement that they never studied in the Gover