Use of the statement of one accused against the others for proving the conspiracy.

Criminal Appeal No. 263 of 1964 is by accused Nos. 1, 2 and 3 and Criminal Appeals Nos. 261 and 262 of 1964 are by accused Nos. 4 and 5 in Sessions Cases Nos. 40 and 41 of 1963 on the file of the II Additional Sessions Judge, Bangalore, and the Additional Sessions Judge, Civil Station, Bangalore. They were tried for the offences of criminal conspiracy defined in section 120-A and punishable under section 120-B of the Indian Penal Code, and also separately for certain specific offences said to have been committed by them pursuant to the said conspiracy.

The broad features of the case sought to be proved against them by the prosecution were that there had been a conspiracy with the object of cutting and removing illegally sandalwood trees from State Forests belonging under the law exclusively to the State Government, transporting them illegally, partly by road and partly by rail, to Bombay City and suburbs under false permits and false papers relating to transport by rail and selling them at Bombay or its suburbs. According to the case ultimately presented to the Court at the trial, the activities of this conspiracy had been going on for a period of at least two years, throughout which period the authorities, particularly officials and officers of the Forest Department, appearing to have been wholly ignorant of it. Indeed, but for a very fortuitous circumstance, these nefarious activities would have gone undetected. Sometime early in January, 1958, the Conservator of Forests K. Kadambi, examined as P.W. 1 in the case, received a pseudonymous telegram from Bombay informing him that 40 bags of sandalwood consigned by rail had arrived at Victoria Railway Terminus at Bombay, that the same remained undelivered or unclaimed by any person claiming to be consignee thereof and that should he consider the matter as one of importance and deserving investigation, he may look into it. Immediately on receipt of the telegram, P.W. 1 gave special instructions to two of his subordinates. He instructed P.W. 66 S.P. Uppin, the then Assistant Conservator of Forests, to proceed to Bombay. He also instructed P.W. 4 K.M. Subbaiah, District Forest Officer to proceed to Rajanukunte Railway Station, from which the telegram had stated that the consignment had emnated, for investigation. The latter contacted the Station Master at Rajanukunte and collected some information about two consignments of 20 bags each of sandalwood booked and transported from the Station on. 31st December, 1957. The former (Uppin) found on arrival at Victoria Terminus at Bombay that the 40 bags referred to in the telegram received by the Conservator of Forests had just been delivered. Another fortuitous circumstances of a servant of a merchant called Govardhandass Tokersey being present on the Railway Platform at that time enabled him to trace the sandalwood consigned to the godown of the said Tokersey. At his instance the Police at Bombay seized the sandalwood in question under a mahazar Exhibit P-180 and later transported it to Bangalore. The Officers of the Forest Department lodged information with the Police at Stations empowered to investigate it. The facts disclosed by the investigation at the earliest stage were that about 50 bags of sandalwood had been transported by rail under four consignments from a station called Hirehalli and about 150 bags transported by rail under eight different consignments from a station called Rajanukunte. Both these Railway Stations are within the limits of the erstwhile State of Mysore and continue to be within the limits of the present State of Mysore. Apparently on account of the fact that Hirehalli is within one jurisdiction and Rajanukunte in another, two different first information reports and two final reports or charge-sheets came to be filed before two different Magistrates, one in respect of the consignments from Hirehalli and the other in respect of the consignments from Rajanukunte Station. In both, however, the accused wer