IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION CRIMINAL APPLICATION NO. 1068 OF 2008 CRIMINAL APPLICATION NO. 1068 OF 2008 CRIMINAL APPLICATION NO. 1068 OF 2008 IN IN IN CRIMINAL APPEAL NO. 908 OF 2008 CRIMINAL APPEAL NO. 908 OF 2008 CRIMINAL APPEAL NO. 908 OF 2008 Abdul Nawaz Abdul Rehman ...Applicant/ Appellant No.1/ Orig.accused No.3 vs. The State of Maharashtra ...Respondent/ Orig.Complainant Mr.Shahid Azmi for the Applicant. Mr.P.A. Pol, APP for the State. WITH CRIMINAL APPLICATION NO. 1004 OF 2008 CRIMINAL APPLICATION NO. 1004 OF 2008 CRIMINAL APPLICATION NO. 1004 OF 2008 IN IN IN CRIMINAL APPEAL NO. 912 OF 2008 CRIMINAL APPEAL NO. 912 OF 2008 CRIMINAL APPEAL NO. 912 OF 2008 Naim Shahanawaj Shaikh ...Applicant/ Orig.accused No.6 vs. The State of Maharashtra ...Respondent/ Orig.Complainant Ms. Anjali Ayer for the Applicant. Mr.P.A. Pol, APP for the State. CORAM : V.M. KANADE, J. CORAM : V.M. KANADE, J. CORAM : V.M. KANADE, J. DATED : OCTOBER 8, 2008 DATED : OCTOBER 8, 2008 DATED : OCTOBER 8, 2008 P.C. :- P.C. :- P.C. :- 1. Heard the learned Counsel for the both the applicants and the learned APP for the State. - 2 - 2. The applicants have been convicted by the trial court for an offence punishable under Section 489-B and 489-C read with 34 of the IPC and sentenced to suffer RI for 5 years each and to pay fine of Rs.5000/- on each count and in default, to suffer RI for one year. 3. The prosecution case is that the Chembur Police Station arrested accused Shabana and Shabanam on 21st September, 2006 for being in possession and for using fake currency notes and the police recovered Rs.35,000/- fake currency notes at the instance of accused Shabana. On the same date, a disclosure was made by Shabana and on the basis of the information given by her, applicant Naim Shaikh and other applicant Abdul were arrested. The fake currency notes were also recovered from the rickshaw of Naim and the house of Abdul. 4. The learned Counsel for appearing on behalf of accused-Abdul submitted that the panchanama which is at Exhibit 42 clearly reveals that there has been alteration of the date on which the panchanama was held - 3 - and secondly, in the third line of the panchanama, the date on which the applicant was called, has not been mentioned. He further submitted that the other panch witness who was examined has stated that they had left to go to Hyderabad on 22nd and whereas the first panch witness has stated that they had left on 23rd. He further submitted that further in the panchanama, it is not mentioned that as a result of disclosure made by Shabana, the police had asked the panchas to go to Hyderabad. He also invited my attention to the contradictions in the statements of the witnesses. 5. The learned Counsel appearing on behalf of accused-Naim, on the other hand, submitted that no reasons have been given by the learned Judge for convicting the said applicant apart from stating that recovery was made from the rickshaw. She submitted that there was even contradictions in the statements of the two witnesses and further, she submitted that there was no independent evidence to show that the applicant Naim had informed the police or the panch that the fake currency notes were kept in his rickshaw. It was - 4 - submitted that therefore, conscious possession by accused-Naim had not been established. Further it is submitted by the learned Counsel for accused-Abdul that the said accused was in jail for about one year during the trial and the accused Naim was in jail for about nine months during the trial and later on, both of them were released. 6. The learned Counsel for accused-Abdul submits that though originally he hails from Kerala after his release on bail, he has reported to the police regularly during the pendency of the case. 7. It is not possible to accept the submission made by the learned Counsel for both the applicants. The applicants have been convicted for a very serious offence punishable under Section 489-B and 489-C when the possession of the fake currency notes with the applicants has been established. It is no doubt true that there are certain discrepancies in the statements of two panch witnesses regarding the date on which they had boarded to go to Hyderabad. However, that by itself - 5 - cannot be a ground for discarding their entire case. At this stage, therefore, it is not possible to grant bail to the applicants. 8. Their application for bail, therefore, is rejected. Liberty, however, is granted to both the applicants to apply for bail if the appeal is not heard within a period of six months from today. The applicants are at liberty to file the private paper books. Hearing of the appeal is expedited. 9. Both the applications are disposed of in the aforesaid terms. (V.M. KANADE, J.) (V.M. KANADE, J.) (V.M. KANADE, J.)