An acquittal stands when the prosecution fails to establish guilt beyond reasonable doubt, particularly in cases involving counterfeit currency where witness inconsistencies are apparent.

JUDGMENT :

Vinod Chatterji Koul, J.

1. The instant Criminal Acquittal Appeal has been filed against the judgment dated 27.08.2018 passed by Ld. Principal Sessions Judge, Rajouri, (for brevity 'trial Court') whereby the respondents have been acquitted of the charges under sections 489-C, 489-D r/w 120-B RPC in FIR No. 496/2006 of Police Station Rajouri.

2. The Judgment of the trial Court is assailed on the grounds that the same is against the law and facts of the case and there is sufficient material on record to convict the respondents, but the trial Court has not appreciated the law and facts of the case which resulted into acquittal of the respondents. The prosecution had established the case against the respondents by adducing documentary as well as oral evidence which in ordinary course of nature is sufficient to prove the guilt of the respondents, however, the trial court has failed to appreciate the same in its true perspective. The important pieces of evidence have been ignored and the judgment is based on surmises and conjectures. The conclusion drawn is against the weightage of evidence adduced by the prosecution. The trial court has taken hyper technical approach and the evidence on record has sufficiently proved the guilt of the respondents.

3. The prosecution case in brief is that 20.11.2006, when police party of P/S Rajouri headed by of PW-1 Inspector Shoket Ali, PW-15 Gulher Singh SI, PW-3 Mohd. Azad, PW-2 Khan Mohd., PW-4 Mushtaq Mirza, PW-5 Ghulam Mujtaba, PW-8 Mohanj Singh, PW-7 Neeraj Kumar, PW-6 Nissar Hussain and MPW-9 Mohd. Taj were on patrol duty in and around Gujjar Mandi they received an information from reliable source that A-2 Wasim Shah, A-3 Rajan Singh and Sultan Anjum S/o Mohd. Aslam are roaming in suspicious condition and are in possession of currency notes and are trafficking fake currency. On receipt of this information, police party reached at Kheora Road and spotted them who on seeing the police party tried to escape from the spot but they were chased but only A-2 Wasim Shah was caught whereas rest of the two persons succeeded in fleeing from the spot and from his personal search 14 fake currency notes of Rs. 500/ 500 denomination, comprising of Rs. 7000/- was recovered, which were seized on the spot and docket EXTP-1/1 was dispatched to P/S Rajouri, whereupon FIR No. 496/2006 for offences under section 489-C RPC was registered and investigation was entrusted to PW-15, Gulher Singh SI.

4. The investigating officer proceeded on the spot and prepared site plan and during investigation A-3 Rajan Singh and A-4 Gagan Chadda were apprehended and from their search 27 and 2 fake currency notes of Rs. 500 denomination were seized and on their disclosure A-1 Ravi Kumar and A-5 Sanjeev Kumar were arrested and from their search fake currency notes of Rs. 20,000/- and Rs. 4500/- each of Rs. 500 denomination were recovered and seized. On the interrogation of the accused they disclosed that A-1 Ravi Kumar makes fake currency notes with the help of printer-scanner and deceitfully sell the same to the innocent people through A-2 to A-5 respectively.

5. Further case of the prosecution is that the seized currency notes were sent to FSL Jammu and the same were found forged-counterfeit currency notes.

6. On completion of the investigation final charge sheet for the commission of offences under sections 489-C, 489-D r/w 120-B RPC was presented before Ld. Chief Judicial Magistrate, Rajouri on 28.05.2008, who committed the same to Principal Sessions Judge, Rajouri who framed the charges for the commission of offences under sections 489-C, 489-D r/w 120-B RPC against the accused persons vide order dated 23.09.2008.

7. The prosecution in order to prove the charges against the accused persons examined all the 17 witnesses cited in the challan and after completion of the prosecution evidence the statements of the accused under section 342 Cr.P.C. were recorded but they did not lead any evidence in defence.

8. The Ld. Trial Court