IN THE HIGH COURT OF HIMACHAL PRADESH SHIMLA Cr.Appeal No.583 of 2002. Date of decision:04.08.2011. State of H.P. … …Appellant Versus Ajeet Singh … …Respondent Coram The Hon’ble Mr.Justice R.B. Misra,J. The Hon’ble Mr.Justice Dev Darshan Sud,J. Whether approved for reporting ?1 No. For the Appellant: Mr.R.K. Sharma, Senior Additional Advocate General. For the Respondent: Mr.Ajay Sharma, Advocate. Dev Darshan Sud,J. The State has challenged the acquittal of the respondent herein who was charged for offences under Sections 409, 468, 471 and 420 IPC. 2. The case was instituted against the respondent-accused on a written complaint dated 29.12.1994, which was made by the Assistant Superintendent of Post Office, to the police alleging that the respondent herein had misappropriated funds of 17 persons as detailed in the letter. The respondent was working as an Extra Departmental Branch Post Master during the period 3.3.1990 to 26.4.1994 and he had mis- appropriated a sum of Rs.4,799/- in all from 14 1 Whether the reporters of Local Papers may be allowed to see the judgement? Yes. 2 accounts. The names of the persons had also been mentioned. 3. Adverting to the prosecution case, the trial Court holds that Raj Kumar, Anita and Shiwani Chaudhary were the only witnesses produced by the prosecution. In the case of Avtar Singh and Sunita Devi, neither he nor Sunita Devi, were examined. Therefore, no charge could be urged against the respondent. 4. On the evidence of PW-1 Raj Kumar, he was declared hostile and did not support the case of the prosecution. Similar is the case of Anita, who appeared as a witness and stated that she had opened five Recurring Deposit Accounts in the names of her children, namely; Sunil Kumar, Ranju Bala, Neela Kumari, Meenakshi and Anubala, in which she deposited Rs.20/- each per month. She herself exonerates the accused from all wrong doing by saying that she received the entire amount. 5. Adverting to the account pertaining to Shivani Chaudhary. This account was operated by her mother Gouran, who appeared as PW-3 and made a general statement that she had received the entire amount deposited by her. 6. Turning to the evidence of Fuli Devi who was the Pradhan of Mahila Mandal, the learned Court scrutinized the original pass book and holds that the evidence produced is not in consonance with the charge 3 framed against the accused. In these circumstances, no case was made out against the accused. 7. Adverting to the account of Suresh Kumar, learned Court notices that a general statement was made by him that he used to deposit the money in his account and later on he heard that the accused had fled away by mis-appropriating the amounts of the account holders. In the case of Nirmala and Prithvi Raj, they were not examined and therefore, no charge could be proved. Lastly, adverting to the case of one Suti Devi PW-10, the learned Court considers her pass book Ex.PW-8/A. She states that the accused withdrew an amount of Rs.2000/- but no such withdrawal has been proved or shown to the Court. The statement was not relied upon by the Court for the reason that it did not match with the factual position. 8. Considering the other point, the learned Court holds that no entrustment was proved and falsification of the record has also not been proved on the record and all that what was found was the report of handwriting expert which could not be found the basis for conviction. The case was accordingly dismissed. 9. We have gone through the record and found that most of the people whose accounts are alleged to be embezzled have not been produced in evidence. The other witnesses support the case on the defence or are 4 unsure about what they are stating against the accused and have only made general allegations. 10. In these circumstances, we find that the learned trial Court has been correct in acquitting the accused for lack of evidence. There is no merit in this appeal which is dismissed. Bail bonds furnished by the respondent are discharged. (R.B. Misra) Judge August 4, 2011 (Dev Darshan Sud) (aks) Judge.