1 WP-535-11.sxw IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION Mhi WRIT PETITION NO. 535 OF 2011 Mr. D.S.Girish .. Petitioner vs. State of Maharashtra .. Respondent Mr. M.G.Shukla, Advocate, for the petitioner Mrs. V.R.Bhosale, APP, for the respondent - State. CORAM: J.H.BHATIA,J. DATE : 8th March, 2011. P.C. 1. Rule. 1. Crime No.262/2009 was registered at Goregaon (East) Police Station for the offences punishable under Sections 379,420, 467, 468, 479 read with Section 34 of IPC. The offence was registered on the basis of the report lodged by one Dharamchand from Bonanza Portfolio Limited. It was alleged that two cheques of Bonanza Portfolio Limited were missing from 19.4.2008 to 17.9.2009. One of the cheques bearing No.760693 was encashed from HDFC Bank, Hubli Branch and the cheque amount of Rs.45 lakh was withdrawn from the account of Bonanza Portfolio Ltd. maintained with HDFC Bank, Nariman Point Mumbai Branch. The said cheque purported to have been issued in the name of one S.L.Shripati . After it was revealed that said cheque was encashed, the company 2 WP-535-11.sxw gave "stop payment" instructions. Meanwhile, it was revealed that another cheque No.760694 was also deposited in the account of accused Vinod Mohta with HDFC Bank, Hubli Branch by accused Mobin Ahmed Topinkatti. The amount of that cheque was Rs.7,92,000/-. It was revealed that on these cheques, there were forged signatures of one Shiv Kumar Goyal, a Director of Bonanza Portfolio Ltd. Several persons were arrested during the investigation. According to prosecution, it was revealed during interrogation of co-accused Vinod Mohta and Mobin Ahmed Topinkatti, that the signature of Shiv Kumar Goyal was made available to them by the present applicant, who was Branch Manager of Hubbli Branch of HDFC Bank. On the basis of the said statements, the present petitioner was also arrested. Later on, he was granted bail. After investigation, charge-sheet was filed. He filed an application for discharge, which was rejected. His revision application against that order was also rejected. Hence, this petition. 3. The learned counsel for the petitioner pointed out that except the statements of co-accused Mobin Ahmed and Vinod Mohta, there is no evidence to show that the present petitioner had procured and supplied the signature of Shiv Kumar Goyal and that as on that basis signatures of Shiv Kumar Goyal were forged on the said cheques. It is settled position of law that statement of co- accused alone without any further corroboration may not be sufficient to prove 3 WP-535-11.sxw the offence against another co-accused. In the present case, the Investigating Officer did not make any attempt to investigate the case to find out evidence independently of the statements of those two co-accused about the role played by the petitioner. The evidence collected by the Investigating Officer and submitted with the charge-sheet, as it stands today, will be utterly insufficient to establish that the present petitioner was involved in commission of the said crime. In fact, the investigation could be made by recording the statements of the concerned officers of the Banks at Dharwad/Hubli Branch as well as at Nariman Point Mumbai Branch to find out whether there was any substance in the statements of Vinod Mohta and Mobin Ahmed that the present petitioner was involved in the commission of the said crime. Taking into consideration the facts and circumstances, it appears that the case has not been properly investigated by the Goregaon Police, possibly because they may not be well equipped with the techniques of investigation in such cases. If the matter was to be decided only on the basis of material collected, possibly the accused would be entitled to be discharged, but in my opinion, taking into consideration the gravity of the offence and the modus operandi adopted by the accused persons, further investigation is necessary. 4. In view of the above, the petition stands disposed of with the 4 WP-535-11.sxw following directions :- 5. Further investigation of the Crime No.262/2009 by the Goregaon (East) Police Station be entrusted to the Economic Offences Wing, Mumbai, who shall investigate the case and submit report before the concerned Magistrate within three months. Till then, the proceedings of the case against the present petitioner shall remain stayed. After the report is submitted by the Economic Offences Wing on completion of the investigation, the petitioner shall be at liberty to move fresh application for discharge, if he so desires. Rule made absolute accordingly. (J.H.BHATIA,J.)