Criminal breach of trust by successor-in-interest.

The petitioner in this criminal revision case has been convicted and sentenced to rigorous imprisonment for one year and to pay a fine of Rs.1,000 and in default of payment of the fine to undergo rigorous imprisonment for six months, under section 409, Indian Penal Code, by the learned Sessions Judge of Tirunelveli Division, who confirmed the conviction and sentence by the learned District Magistrate of Tirunelveli.

The petitioner, the present Zamindar of Uthumalai estate, is said to be a premier citizen of the District of Tirunelveli. The said Zamindar is the trustee of Navaneetha Krishnaswami temple at Veerakeralampudur. Before him, his father was the trustee for a short time. The latter was shot dead on the 18th September, 1942. Before his death, the grandfather of the present petitioner, one Subbiah Thevar, was the Zamindar. The said grandfather of the present petitioner died on. the 1st January, 1941. The said Subbiah Thevar was the brother of Rani Meenakshisundara Nachiar, who was the Zamindarini for a long time till her death on 4th July, 1921. From 1902 up to 1922 the estate as well as the Devasthanam were under the management of the Courts of Wards. During this period and immediately on the death of the Zamindarini, there were three claimants who filed O.S.Nos.1, 2 and 3 of 1922 on the file of the District Court of Tirunelveli. Subbiah Thevar, the paternal grandfather of the present petitioner, filed O.S.No.3 of 1922. His suit was for a declaration of his title to succeed in preference to the other claimants who had filed O.S.Nos.1 and 2 of 1922. On 3rd January, 1929, the District Court decided and decreed the suit brought by the paternal grandfather of the present petitioner and dismissed the other two suits. His title was also upheld by the High Court on 2nd April, 1935, in appeals preferred by the parties, slightly modifying the decree of the District Court with regard to the personal property of the Zamindarini. The matter went up to the Privy Council on appeal from the decree of the High Court. The Privy Council affirmed the decree of the High Court on 3rd December, 1937. The grandfather of the present petitioner had been appointed receiver by the District Court during the pendency of the suits in the District Court to manage the estate and the Devasthanam. The order of appointment was dated 10th November, 1940, and his possession as receiver became possession in his own right when the appeal was finally disposed of by the Privy Council.

During her management as a limited owner of the Uthumalai Zamin, the Zamindarini, Rani Meenakshisundara Nachiar, had alienated seven villages of the estate in favour of the Navaneetha Krishnaswami temple, with the permission of the then Collector of Tirunelveli. This was under a deed dated 15th June, 1921, and during the period the Court of Wards was in management, these villages were formally got transferred in the name of the said temple and an inam title was issued by the Government to the temple of the villages. Accumulations of income during the receivership of the grandfather of the present petitioner and also the surplus income derived during the management of the Devasthanam by the Court of Wards, had all been invested by the District Court in Government Securities and these amounted to a sum of Rs.6,12,100. The securities of the face value of the said amount stood in the name of the District Judge. There was also a balance Rs.30,882-0-4 which remained in cash.

The grandfather of the present petitioner, after he ceased to be the receiver, filed an application before the District Court (Ex. P-89) on the 3rd March, 1939, in which, after setting out the facts, he had prayed to the District Court to tax and ascertain from the accounts and registers maintained in the District Court in O.S. Nos.1 to 3 of 1922, the amount invested in Government Securities and cash in deposit in the Imperial Bank at Tirunelveli belonging to the Devasthanams appertaining to t