TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
1979 (10) TMI 214
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.... of the Sessions Judge and have also gone through the record of the case. On a perusal of the record and judgment of the High Court we are clearly of the opinion that these appeals are concluded by findings of facts. It is well settled that this Court in special leave will not interfere with concurrent findings of facts unless the findings are vitiated by a grave error of law or by an error which leads to serious and substantial miscarriage of justice. After a perusal of the judgment of the courts below we find ourselves in complete agreement with the view taken by the High Court and are unable to find any special circumstances which require our interference with the order passed by the High Court. 3. A number of contentions were raised by the counsel for the various accused and after considering those contentions we find that they have been fully met by the High Court in its very well reasoned judgment which has considered various shades, aspects and points to controversy. 4. So far as appellant No. 1 (accused No. 1) Mr. Chitale who has argued the case with his usual ingenuity and persuasiveness submitted three points before us. It was argued that the appellant No, 1 had res....
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....r hands, or which are under their control. 10. This Court while approving the cases mentioned' above observed as follows: We are, therefore, of opinion that Dalmia and Chokhani were entrusted with the dominion over the funds of the Bharat Insurance Company in the Banks. 11. Thus, this Court fully approved the law laid down by the cases mentioned above that a director was clearly in the position of a trustee and being a trustee of the assets which has come into his hand he had dominion and control over the same. A clear finding to this effect has also been given by the High Court at page 33 of the judgment where the High Court has observed as follows: "The property being an actionable claim against Rekhchand Gopaldas, accused No. 1 as the Managing Director was entrusted with complete dominion over the right to recover the same under the said articles and as such he was capable of committing dishonest misappropriation or conversion of that actionable claim. The finding of the learned trial Judge on the point of entrustment, therefore, has to be upheld and we confirm the same. 12. In R. K. Dalmia's case (supra) ref erred above this Court has held at page 279 that the wo....
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....It appears that after the judgment of the High Court and during the pendency of the appeal the appellant No. 1 died and therefore enhancement of fine of Rs. one lakh given by the High Court would have to be paid by the heirs of the deceased, appellant No. 1. We find that there is some substance in this contention. Having regard to the peculiar facts and circumstances of this case we do not want to penalise the heirs of appellant No. 1 for the sins committed by appellant No. 1, In these circumstances we would reduce the sentence of fine only from two lakhs to one lakh, we would also modify the direction of the High Court that out of the fine Rs. 50,000 will go to the Government. We direct that out of the fine, if realised, the entire amount should be paid to the official liquidator who would distribute the amount rateably amongst the depositors of the bank who have filed their claims, excluding the heirs of 1st appellant With this modification the appeal of appellant No. 1 is dismissed 17. As regards appellants Nos. 2 to 4 Mr. Lalit confined his argument on the question of sentence and did not press the appeal on the nature of the offence committed by them. It was submitted th....
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.... appellant No. 24. We may point out that under the principle contained in Section 10 of the Evidence Act, once a conspiracy to commit an illegal act is proved, act of one conspirator becomes the act of the other. This principle clearly applies to appellant No. 24 once the knowledge of the conspiracy is proved as found by the High Court which observes as follows: The material on record, therefore, clearly shows that he was a party to the conspiracy and had joined and participated therein by helping the other conspirators in getting the initial shortage of 1948 concealed in the several branches of Laxmi Bank; in other words, though not one of the original conspirators, he could be said to be one of the principal members of the conspiracy as suggested by the prosecution. 20. Similarly, some other subsidiary contentions have been raised which have been fully dealt with by the High Court and it is not necessary for us to repeat them. 21. It was also urged that this appellant entered on the scene in 1952 after the misappropriation was almost complete and hence he could not be a member of the conspiracy nor could he' have any knowledge of the shortage found in the Akola Branch or....