Facts of the case
- First appellant was Chief Manager of the Malad Branch of the Corporation Bank at Mumbai, and the second appellant was Chief Manager of the Wadala Branch (Mumbai).
- A complaint was lodged with the police by the Deputy Manager of the Bank with the allegations that a huge amount, more than half a crore of rupees, had been defrauded by certain persons and the Bank was put to great loss to the above extent.
- An FIR was registered on its basis for certain offences and after completion of the investigation the police laid two charge-sheets before the said Metropolitan Magistrate arraigning 4 persons as accused for offences under Section 120-B, 420, 467, 468 and 471 of the Indian Penal Code.
- The Central Bureau of Investigation which conducted the investigation and laid the charge-sheet has stated in the final report that the 4 accused along with other persons secured loans from the bank to the tune of more than half a crore of rupees in the names of existing as well as non-existing persons from three branches of the Corporation Bank (Malad and Wadala Branches at Mumbai and Library Branch at Ahmedabad) on the strength of bogus share certificates purported to have been issued from various companies.
- The CBI has further stated that the materials collected by them are insufficient to show the involvement of three officers of the Bank (including the two appellants) in the perpetration of the said crime.
- The Metropolitan Magistrate, after perusing the said charge-sheet filed against 4 accused persons, felt that the CBI was shielding the appellants from prosecution and hence he sought the explanation from the CBI regarding that aspect.
- After considering the explanation offered by the CBI officials learned Magistrate felt that the investigating officer has committed the offence under Section 219 of the Indian Penal Code (making a report corruptly or maliciously, knowing that it is contrary to law), and issued notice to him.
- That order of the Magistrate was challenged by the concerned investigating officer and the High Court quashed that order, but made an observation that it is open to the Magistrate to consider at the appropriate stage whether any action is necessary under 319 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.
- An appeal was made to the Supreme Court.
Judgment
The hon’ble Supreme Court stated that, “The basic requirements for invoking the section 319 is that it should appear to the court from the evidence collected during trial or in the inquiry that some other person, who is not arraigned as an accused in that case, has committed an offence for which that person could be tried together with the accused already arraigned. It is not enough that the court entertained some doubt, from the evidence, about the involvement of another person in the offence. In other words, the court must have reasonable satisfaction from the evidence already collected regarding two aspects. First is that the other person has committed an offence. Second is that for such offence that other person could as well be tried along with the already arraigned accused. But even then, what is conferred on the court is only a discretion as could be discerned from the words the court may proceed against such person. The discretionary power so conferred should be exercised only to achieve criminal justice. It is not that the court should turn against another person whenever it comes across evidence connecting that another person also with the offence. A judicial exercise is called for, keeping a conspectus of the case, including the stage at which the trial has proceeded already and the quantum of evidence collected till then, and also the amount of time which the court had spent for collecting such evidence. It must be remembered that there is no compelling duty on the court to proceed against other persons. No doubt the statements may create some suspicion against the appellants. But suspicion is not sufficient to hold that there is reasonable prospect of convicting the appellants of the offence of criminal conspiracy. We strongly feel that a situation has not reached as to waste the whole massive evidence already collected by the trial court thus far, against the 4 accused arraigned in the case. Hence the order of the trial court in exercise of Section 319 of the Code has to be interfered with for enabling the trial to proceed to its normal culmination.”
The appeal was allowed and the order of the High Court was set aside.
BY: ANKIT RAJPUT