Wanchoo, C.J.—This is an appeal by the State against the acquittal of Gulab Singh accused of an offence under sec. 409 of the Indian Penal Code.

2. The prosecution case was briefly this, Gulab Singh was a cashier in the Panchayat Office at Udaipur, and used to remain in charge of moneys relating to that office. The money used to be kept in a safe which was placed in the office of the Inspector of Schools for safe custody. The accused left for Jaipur on casual leave on the 29th May, 1952, with the permission of Sundernath, the then Officiating Panchayat Officer. He should have returned to duty on the 29th of May, but did not. He sent applications for extension of his leave time and again. This extension however was not granted, but as the address of the accused was not known, he could not be informed of this refusal. In the meantime, Sundernath was relieved by Krishna Vallabh as Panchayat Officer on the 31st May, 1952. Krishna Vallabh wanted the keys of the safe in order to count the cash. Sundernath said that the keys were with the accused who had not returned. Thereafter, orders were sought from the Chief Panchayat Officer at Jaipur, who replied that the safe might be broken up. Pr

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