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2015 Supreme(P&H) 1767
IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA
Before
The Hon’ble Mr. Justice Fateh Deep Singh
CRA-S No.1406-SB of 2009
Namdev & Anr.
v.
Central Bureau of Investigation
{Decided on 15/10/2015}
For the Respondent/CBI:Mr. Sumeet Goel, Advocate.
Headnote:Cheating--Acquittal--Paddy given to private rice millers allegedly found to be of sub standard quality after milling--Samples at destination place were drawn in absence of the accused party; amounts to denial of natural justice—Private miller acquitted.
(A) Evidence Act, 1872--Defence of witness--Even the defence witnesses are to be treated at par with the prosecution witnesses and not giving them due weightage would result in miscarriage of justice.
(B) Indian Penal Code, 1860, S.120-B--Criminal conspiracy--The essence of criminal conspiracy is an agreement to do an illegal act and that the same can be proved either by direct evidence but which is rarely forth coming and other mostly revolves around circumstantial evidence considering the entire evidence of the prosecution nothing tangible could come to the knowledge of the Court as to the complicity of the accused unless and until the prosecution satisfactorily establishes that the accused committed in pursuance of an agreement made between them such a conclusion cannot be drawn.
(C) Indian Penal Code, 1860, S.420 & S.477-A--Cheating--Acquittal--Falsification of accounts--Allegation that private millers had received good quality rice from FCI for milling and they have mixed with bad quality rice and this caused loss of Rs. 43 lakhs to State--Further that FCI officers were also involved--All accused persons acquitted on following grounds:-
(i) As per the own documents of the prosecution there is only a transit loss of 0.365% when it is permissible to the extent of 1% and by that admittedly the loss in terms of money value of the food grains that accrues to the FCI is to the extent of only Rs. 4,105.60.
(ii) Admittedly, samples at destination place were drawn in absence of the accused party--Held; the unilateral inspection and expert report which forms the very basis of the prosecution story ultimately culminating into the conviction, are contrary to the rules of natural justice--It is a right to fair hearing which is a guaranteed right and before taking action on the basis of a report it was necessitated before using such a report against the accused, the same ought to have been brought to their notice to seek and call for their stand.
(iii) No proof that stencils or contract number as found on seized bags belonged to private millers.
(iv) Before dispatch (from Punjab) and after receiving (at Bengal) FCI officials have satisfied themselves about the quality and quantity of the goods sent--Detailed procedure is prescribed and adopted to ensure quality and quantity of rice sent from FCI godown to private miller then to railways for transportation then at destination for receiving the goods and then for FCI Godowns at destined place—No lapse has been surfaced in those prescribed procedures;
(v) Allegation of excess stock found used for mixing has been rejected during cross-examination.
(vi) Held; here is a conceded attempt by the officials to escape from making payment to private millers who have supplied this paddy long back ago and they are involved in absence of any such proper allegation.
Mr. Fateh Deep Singh, J.:- Four accused namely Sukhdev Raj, Assistant Grade-I (for short ‘AG(I)’); Manjit Singh, Assistant Manager – Depot (for short ‘AM(D)’) and Om Parkash, Assistant Grade-I (for short ‘AG(I)’) all officials of the Food Corporation of India (FCI), the latter having died during the trial, were jointly tried along with Jaipal Midha and Namdev both private Millers from M/s Friends Rice and General Mills and M/s Arora Rice and General Mills respectively in this criminal case got registered by way of RC No.16 of 10.05.2003 and all of them who happens to be the present appellants stood convicted vide common judgment dated 14.05.2009 by the Court of learned Special Judge, CBI, Punjab, Patiala under Sections 120B/420/477A IPC and Section 13(1)(d) read with Section 13(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act and were sentenced as under:
| Name of Accused | Offence | Sentence |
| 1. Sukhdev Raj 2. Manjit Singh 3. Jaipaul Midha 4. Namdev | Section 120-B IPC | To undergo RI for 2 years and to pay a fine of Rs.10,000 each; in default to undergo further RI for 3 months. |
| 1. Sukhdev Raj 2. Manjit Singh 3. Jaipaul Midha 4. Namdev | Section 420 IPC | To undergo RI for 3 years and to pay a fine of Rs.20,000 each; in default to undergo further RI for 6 months. |
| Sukhdev Raj | Section 477-A IPC | To undergo RI for 2 years. |
| 1. Manjit Singh 2. Sukhdev Raj
| Section 13(1)(d) read with Section 13(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act | To undergo RI for 3 years and to pay a fine of Rs.10,000 each; in default to undergo further RI for 3 months. |
2. Since all the three appeals are directed against these impugned findings of the trial Court and thus for the sake of brevity and convenience are being disposed off by this common judgment.
3. Before appreciating the rival contentions what is necessitated is recapitulation of the factual niceties of the case for better appreciation.
4. It was on the basis of anonymous complaint allegedly dated 27.01.2001 addressed to the District Manger, FCI, Kapurthala claimed to have been made (revealed subsequently) by one Ravel Singh and which neither the complaint nor the complainant had seen light of the day, as they have never been brought before the Court. It was alleged therein regarding certain irregularities in handling of the paddy/rice stocks at FCI, Hired Godown (for short ‘HG’), Dhilwan. As per this source information, Sukhdev Raj AG(I), V.K. Gupta (also referred to as Y.K. Gupta), Assistant Manager – Quality Control (for short ‘AM(QC)’); Manjit Singh AM(D); Om Parkash AG(I) and Surinder Kumar, Technical Assistant Grade-I (for short ‘TA(I)’) of FCI have all hired a godown at Dhilwan, District Kapurthala in connivance with private rice millers M/s Friends Rice and General Mills and M/s Arora Rice and General Mills, who had fraudulently mixed substandard rice stocks of private millers with FCI rice stocks and have then despatched a consignment of about 2400 Metric Tonnes of rice common sela through special train No.119 from Beas to Cooch Behar (West Bengal) on 26.01.2001 and thus, have caused wrongful loss of Rs.43.08 lacs to the FCI and thereby have made corresponding wrongful gain to the accused persons.
5. On the basis of this, a physical verification of the stocks of FCI, HG-Dhilwan was conducted on the orders of DM on 30/31.01.2001 (after despatch had been made) and during which it was revealed that three stacks containing 10479 bags of rice common sela each bag weighing 50 kg were found in excess though the same were shown to have been despatched on 26.01.2001. By another quirk of fate, the despatched grains were received at Cooch Behar on 07.02.2001 where 43 samples of the bags were taken by the quality control officials of the FCI Kolkata and it is alleged that out of them 39 samples were found unfit for human consumption and damaged beyo
