Conviction under sections 120B and 420 of IPC requires proof of dishonest intent at inception, established through submitted forged documents resulting in bank fraud.

JUDGMENT :

A. BADHARUDEEN, J.

Accused Nos.2 and 3 in C.C. No.2/2002 on the files of the Court of the Special Judge (SPE/CBI)-I, Ernakulam, have filed this appeal, under Section 374 (2) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 [hereinafter referred as ‘Cr.P.C.’ for short], challenging the conviction and sentence imposed by the Special Judge, against them as per the judgment dated 30.11.2006. The Superintendent of Police, Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Kochi, represented by the Special Public Prosecutor is arrayed as the sole respondent herein.

2. During the pendency of this appeal, the 1^st appellant/2^nd accused died and the wife of the 1^st appellant got impleaded as the additional 3^rd appellant to continue with this appeal.

3. Heard the learned counsel for the appellants and the learned Special Public Prosecutor, in detail. Perused the verdict under challenge, the records of the Special Court as well as the decision placed by the learned counsel for the appellants.

4. Parties in this appeal shall be referred as ‘accused’ and ‘prosecution’, hereafter.

5. In this matter, the prosecution case is that, the1^st accused functioned as Manager, Allahabad Bank, Mattancherry Branch, Kochi, during the period between January, 1996 and June, 1998. The 2^nd accused was the Managing Partner and the 3^rd accused, who is the son of the 2^nd accused, was the Partner of M/s.KVA Brothers, Mattancherry. They had been doing business relating to the trading of dried coconut for producing coconut oil at the factory of the 4^th accused known as ‘Jyothi Agro Industries, Akhola’, in Maharashtra State. The 4^th accused was the proprietor of M/s.Jyothi Agro Industries, Akhola. The case of the prosecution is that, accused Nos.1 to 4 hatched criminal conspiracy during the year 1997 at Mattancherry, Kochi and Akhola, Maharashtra and also other places for cheating Allahabad Bank, Mattancherry Branch, Kochi and criminal misconduct was done by the 1^st accused in the matter of discounting of bills for obtaining undue pecuniary advantage to accused Nos.2 to 4. In pursuance of the criminal conspiracy, accused Nos.2 and 3 submitted 13 numbers of IBDs (Inland Bill Discounted) during the period between 11.3.1997 and 9.6.1997 for discounting before the 1^st accused showing sale of Copra to the 4^th accused. Further, in pursuance of the said conspiracy, accused Nos.2 and 3 submitted stale LRs along with the bills showing the consignee as Allahabad Bank after getting the LRs from the transporter without specifying the consignee Bank's name. Further, accused Nos.2 and 3 in pursuance of the conspiracy filed forged invalid open insurance forms along with the said 13 bills in order to make it appear that the said consignments were insured. The 1^st accused, in pursuance of the conspiracy by abusing his official position as a public servant, by corrupt or illegal means discounted the said 13 bills totally disregarding the fact that the limit sanctioned under the IBD to M/s.KVA Brothers was already overdrawn and substantial amount was outstanding in the loan account. Further, the 1^st accused dishonestly accepted those 13 bills irrespective of the fact that the LRs were stale and as such, he was not allowed such stale LRs. In pursuance of the said conspiracy, accused Nos.2 and 3, after discounting the bills, and on some occasions, even prior to the discounting sent the consignment directly to the 4^th accused at Akola in order facilitate him to take delivery of the consignment without making payments against the discounted bills. In pursuance of the conspiracy, the 4^th accused took