L. CHANDRAIAH versus STATE OF A.P. AND ANR.

Citation: [2003] SUPP. 5 S.C.R. 336 · Decided: 06-11-2003 · Supreme Court of India · Bench: B.P. SINGH, AR. LAKSHMANAN · Disposal: Appeal(s) allowed
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Judgment (excerpt)

A 
L. CHANDRAIAH 
v. 
STATE OF A.P. AND ANR. 
NOVEMBER 6, 2003 
B 
[B.P. SINGH AND DR. AR. LAKSHMANAN, JI.] 
Penal Code, 1860 : 
Ss. 409, 469 and 471-Posta/ officials-Prosecution of for clandestinely 
C withdrawing money from recurring deposit accounts of workers of a company--
Trial court convicting three of them namely, the one, who had prepared and 
signed the vouchers, and those who had passed the vouchers-Trial court 
recording a finding that there was no evidence to show that the three accused 
acted pursuant to a common plan-Appeal by the accused who had passed the 
D .vouchers-Held, there is no evidence to show that appellants had knowledge 
of the fact that vouchers were forged or fabricated and as such appellants 
cannot be said to have acted with criminal intent-Accordingly, offences under 
ss. 467, 471 or 409 are not proved against the appellants-Consequently, 
offences under provisions of Prevention of Corruption Act is also not made 
out-Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988-ss. 5(/)(c)(d) and 5(2). 
E 
F 
CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION : Crimina.I Appeal No. 
204 of 1997. 
From the Judgment and Order dated 11.4.96 of the Andhra Pradesh 
High Court in Crl. A. No. 453 of 1993. 
WITH 
Crl. A. No. 312 of 1997 
Mahendra Anand, S. Sada Siva Reddy, Ms. S. Usha Reddy, G. Venkatesh 
G Rao and R.P. Wadhwani for the Appellants. 
P. Parmeswaran for the Respondents. 
The following Order of the Court was delivered : 
H 
336 
L. CHANDRAIAH v. STATE OF A.P. 
337 
These two appeals are directed against the judgment and order of the A 
High Court of Judicature, Andhra Pradesh at Hyderabad dated April 11, 1996 
in Criminal Appeal No. 453 of 1993. The High Court by its impugned 
judgment and order dismissed the appeal filed by the appellants and affirmed 
their conviction and sentence under Sections 409, 467 and 471 IPC as also 
under Section 5( I) ( c) and ( d) read with 5(2) of the Prevention of Corruption B 
Act. The appellant in Criminal Appeal 204 of 1997 namely L. Chandraiah 
has been sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for a period of one 
year under Section 409 IPC and Section 5(1) (c) and (d) read with Section 
5(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, and to undergo simple imprisonment 
for one month for the offence punishable under Section 467 !PC. So far as 
the appellant in Criminal Appeal No. 312 of 1997 namely Y.V. Kamesham C 
is concerned he has been sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for a 
period of two years under Section 409 and Section 5( I)( c) and ( d) read with 
Section 5(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, and has also been found 
guilty of the offence under Section 467 IPC for which he has been sentenced 
to undergo I month simple imprisonment. The trial court also imposed the 
sentence of fine against both. 
D 
Six persons were put up for trial before the Special Judge for C.B.I. 
Cases, Hyderabad in CC No. 7 of 1990. L. Chandraiah was A-I before the 
trial court while Y.V. Kamesham was A-2. The third accused namely G. 
Sambamurthy was also convicted and sentenced in the same manner as E 
appellant Y. V. Kamesham, but he did not prefer any appeal before the High 
Court. Only the appellants in these two appeals preferred an appeal before 
the High Court which was numbered as Criminal Appeal No. 453 of 1993. 
It may here be noticed that the other three accused namely A-4, A-5 and A-
6 were acquitted of the charges levelled against them by the trial court and 
no appeal was preferred by the State against their acquittal. The appellants F 
have assailed the judgment of the High Court before us in these appeals by 
special leave. 
The brief facts of the case are that A-1 was a Sub-Post Master at 
Bellampally Sub-Post Office from April 1986 to May 8, 1987. He was 
succeeded by A-2 as Sub-Post Master who worked as such from May 8, 1987 G 
to November 16, 1987. At the relevant time A-3 worked as Postal Assistant 
in the same Sub-Post Office. A-4 was employed as a Postmen in the said Post 
Office during the relevant period. A-5 who was earlier an employee of the 
Postal Department had resigned from his post in the year 1987. A-6 is a 
student and is related to A-3 and was staying with A-3 as a tenant at H 
338 
SUPREME COURT REPORTS (2003] SUPP. 5 S.C.R. 
A Bellampally. 
The Case of the prosecution is that several recurring deposit accounts 
were opened in the said Sub-Post Office in the names of a large number of 
workers of Mis. Singareni Collieries Ltd. The amount contributed in the s
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