TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2012 (8) TMI 1230
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....irmed the conviction and sentence imposed upon him Under Section 409 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (hereinafter referred to as "Indian Penal Code") by the trial Court. 3. Brief facts: (a) The Appellant was the Fair Price Shop dealer of Stuartpuram village and also in-charge dealer of Fair Price Shop at Chinabethapudi. He was entrusted with the task of distribution of rice at free of cost under "Food For Work Scheme" (FFWS) to the workers on production of coupons, to maintain proper accounts and to handover the said coupons to the Mandal Revenue Office to that effect. (b) During the 17th Janma Bhoomi programme, on 03.06.2002, one Nadendla Jakraiah filed a complaint against the Appellant to the Mandal Revenue Officer (MR....
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....n 31.07.2002, the MRO lodged a complaint with the S.H.O., P.S. Vedullapalli which was registered as FIR in Crime No. 22 of 2002 Under Sections 409 and 420 of Indian Penal Code. After investigation, the police arrested the Appellant on 30.09.2002. (f) After considering the evidence, the II Addl. Jr. Civil Judge-cum-Judicial First Class Magistrate, Bapatla, by judgment dated 22.05.2004 in C.C. No. 7/2003, found the Appellant guilty for the offence punishable Under Section 409 Indian Penal Code and not guilty Under Section 420 Indian Penal Code and, accordingly, convicted and sentenced him to suffer simple imprisonment for 6 months and also to pay a fine of Rs. 1,000/-, in default, to further undergo simple imprisonment for 1 month. ....
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....ndent witnesses, their evidence without corroboration with the independent witness, casts a reasonable doubt on the veracity of the prosecution allegation. 6. On the other hand, Mr. Mayur Shah, Learned Counsel for the State, after taking us through the entire materials placed by the prosecution and reasonings of the Courts below, pleaded for confirmation of the conviction and sentence imposed on the Appellant. 7. In order to appreciate the above contentions, it is useful to refer the definition and punishment of criminal breach of trust and related provision provided Under Sections 405, 406 and 409 Indian Penal Code which read as under: 405. Criminal breach of trust.- Whoever, being in any manner entrusted with property, or w....
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....s criminal breach of trust in respect of that property. In other words, in order to sustain conviction Under Section 409 Indian Penal Code, two ingredients are to be proved: namely, i) the accused, a public servant or a banker or agent was entrusted with the property of which he is duty bound to account for; and ii) the accused has committed criminal breach of trust. What amounts to criminal breach of trust is provided Under Section 405 Indian Penal Code. The basic requirement to bring home the accusations Under Section 405 are the requirements to prove conjointly i) entrustment and ii) whether the accused was actuated by dishonest intention or not, misappropriated it or converted it to his own use to the detriment of the persons who entrus....
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....O. All of them stated that the accused was running Fair Price Shop at Stuartpuram and also in-charge of Fair Price Shop at Chinabethapudi. As per the orders of PW-1, on 25.07.2002, PWs 2 and 3, along with PW-4 and some others, carried out an inspection over the Fair Price Shops of the Appellant-accused at Chinabethapudi and Stuartpuram and submitted a Report. PW-3 stated that the Appellant-accused disposed of 67.65 quintals of rice in black market intended for FFWS. According to these witnesses, the value of foodgrain was around Rs. 84,562/-. On the same day, i.e., on 25.07.2002, PW-2 recorded the statement of the Appellant-accused under Exh. P-7 wherein nowhere he denied the contents of the said statement. It is also clear from the prosecu....
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.... 10. The trial Court, after considering all the materials, came to the conclusion that the evidence of PWs 1 to 6 is reliable and trustworthy in relation to the offence in proving entrustment of property of the Government to the accused. In the case on hand, the Appellant, an agent entrusted with the distribution of rice under the "Food for Work Scheme" (FFWS) to the workers on production of coupons, was charged with misappropriation of 67.65 quintals of rice. The evidence also proves that there was entrustment of property to the accused. All these aspects have been rightly considered by the trial Court and found the Appellant guilty of the offence punishable Under Section 409 Indian Penal Code. The appellate and revisional court, on app....