1 IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY NAGPUR BENCH : NAGPUR CRIMINAL WRIT PETITION NO. 116 OF 2011. Manikrao Rajaramji Balpande .vs. The State of Maharashtra & others Office Notes, Office Memoranda of Coram, appearances, Court's orders Court's or Judge's orders or directions and Registrar's orders. Mr. M.P. Kariya, Advocate for petitioner, Mr. N.S. Khubalkar, A.P.P. for respondent nos. 1 to 4. CORAM : MRS. V.K. TAHILRAMANI & M.L. TAHALIYANI, JJ. DATED : JULY 21, 2011. Heard the learned Advocate for the petitioner and the learned A.P.P. for the respondents. 2] The petitioner has lodged C.R. No. 81/98 under Sections 379, 420, 467, 468, 408 read with Section 34 of Indian Penal Code at Narkhed Police Station. The case of the petitioner is that he had opened an account bearing No. 7 with the Nagpur Nagarik Sahakari Bank, Branch at Narkhed. He was issued a cheque-book. However, while issuing the cheque-book, the bank employees removed three cheques from the cheque-book with its counter-slip. The bank employees misused the cheques and misappropriated an amount of Rs.2,05,000/- from the 2 account of the petitioner. Hence, he lodged FIR against 5 persons who are all employees of the said Bank. The investigation was handed over to Crime Branch. During investigation, the Crime Branch seized some original documents from the Bank and sent them to the handwriting expert for verifying the truthfulness of the signatures. 3] The grievance of the petitioner is that though the charge-sheet is filed in the case long back, however, thereafter the documents which were sent to the handwriting expert were not produced before the Court. The case of the petitioner is that those documents have either been lost or misplaced by the investigating agency and unless those documents are brought before the Court, he cannot get justice. 4] The affidavit filed by the P.S.O., Narkhed shows that they have pursued the matter with the Government Chief Examiner of Documents and they have received all the documents back from the Government Chief Examiner of Documents. Some other documents have been traced in the Malkhana. The documents which were in the Malkhana could not be traced because the person incharge had expired. Thereafter, the person who took over had retired and new person who took charge could not trace the documents. Thereafter, serious efforts were made and the 3 previous Moharir (P.C. Nagrale) stated that he was in a position to trace out the documents in Malkhana. Accordingly, on 15.7.2011 he carried out an extensive search and traced out all the original documents. Some of the other documents consisted of currency notes and the currency notes have been deposited in the account of the petitioner. The fact that the currency has been deposited in the account is admitted by the learned Counsel for the petitioner. 5] Thus, as of now only one document remains, i.e. the bill-book of Anant Photo Studio. According to the learned Counsel for the petitioner, the bill-book is important because one person who gave his name as Shri Rama Maroti Masram opened account in another branch of Nagpur Nagarik Sahakari Bank Branch. While opening the account, photographs were taken out in Anant Photo Studio. Amounts were transferred from account no.7 of the petitioner to the account in another branch which account was opened using the said photographs. Hence, he states that in this view of the matter, this bill-book of the Photo Studio is of great importance. Prima facie we feel that this bill-book will not help the petitioner to take his case any further. However, learned A.P.P. states that efforts are being made to trace the bill-book. 4 6] As far as the other documents mentioned in Annexure Nos. 2 & 3 are concerned, the P.S.O. has obtained certified copies of the documents from the Nagpur Nagarik Sahakari Bank Branch at Katol/Narkhed/Nagpur main branch. He has also received photo copies of these documents from the Government Examiner of Documents. It is stated that steps will be taken to file copies of all these documents before the trial Court, i.e. J.M.F.C., Narkhed in Criminal Case No. 81/98. It is also stated on behalf of the investigating agency that they will apply before the Court for permitting the prosecution to lead secondary evidence wherever it is found necessary. In this view of the matter, the grievance of the petitioner would not survive. 7] It is in the peculiar facts and circumstances of this case that the documents have not been traced. We find that there are no malafides or any deliberate inaction on the part of any authorities; thus, this is not a fit case to grant compensation. 8] With the above observations, the petition is disposed of. JUDGE. JUDGE. J.