TMI Blog2005 (12) TMI 50X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... sed-respondent, Mr. K. Inbasagaran, was a senior I.A.S. Officer of the Government of Tamil Nadu who stood charged for offence punishable under section 13(2) read with section 13(1)(e) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 (hereinafter to be referred as "the Act") and was found guilty, convicted and sentenced by the learned Special Judge (XIth Additional Judge, City Civil Court) at Madras to undergo rigorous imprisonment for one year and also to pay a fine of Rs. 5,000, in default to undergo rigorous imprisonment for three months. Aggrieved against this order, the accused preferred an appeal before the Madras High Court at Chennai and the learned single judge of the Madras High Court acquitted the accused of the aforesaid charges. Hence, the present appeal filed by the State of Tamil Nadu through the Deputy Superintendent of Police, Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption, Chennai. The accused, Inbasagaran, obtained B.E. Hons. degree and joined Indian Navy as an officer during 1965. Later on he entered the Indian Administrative Service during 1970 and was allotted the Tamil Nadu cadre. During 1982 he went to America for studies along with his wife and children. He worke ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ffence under section 13(2) read with section 13(1)(e) of the Act on November 4, 1997. The prosecution examined 53 witnesses as PWs 1 to 53 and marked and executed documents as exhibits P1 to P185. The accused denied the charges and according to the accused the assets which had been unearthed during the raid by the Income-tax Department was not his assets but they were the assets of his wife who was running certain companies. According to him, his wife accompanied him when he went to America where she worked in a pharmaceutical company and also as a clerk in the State Bank of India and she earned salaries and was also assessed by the Income-tax Department in America. At the time of her return from America, she brought cash, video camera and a computer. Video camera and computer were revenue earning assets, his wife leased out the video camera for marriage coverage and earned sufficient monies. She had started a computer concern under the name and style of Tamil Nadu Computer Service by incurring a loan of Rs. 2,00,000 by Punjab National Bank. The computer centre also generated funds. It was also stated that apart from this, his wife had floated three concerns one in the name and ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... The learned trial court held that assets worth Rs. 54,50,510 were found in the possession of the accused and accordingly held him guilty as aforesaid. On appeal by the accused, the learned single judge of the Madras High Court examined the findings as well as the judgment of the learned trial court and came to the conclusion that the recovery of the sum of Rs. 29 lakhs at the house of the accused was not in the exclusive possession of the accused. So far as Rs. 1 lakh found on the dining table is concerned, it belonged to one Girish Davey who appeared in the witness box as PW 46 and was representative of pharmaceutical company, Ranbaxy, and the learned single judge of the High Court also held that Rs. 1 lakh kept in plastic bag and two packets of sweets found on the dining table at the time of raid, belonged to Girish and it did not belong to the accused. The learned single judge also found that since the entire money has been admitted by his wife who had come in witness box as DW-12 and admitted that she earned this money by selling cycle rims and leather shoe uppers without any bill and this money belonged to her and she had made a clean breast before the income-tax authority ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... Nadu she has owned it. Therefore, the wife has taken the full responsibility of this black money and owned the same. Learned counsel for the State states that the money belongs to the accused since he was a Secretary to the Government of Tamil Nadu in the Medical Health Department and it is alleged that on the relevant date Girish Davey came with the cash and sweets which were lying on the dining table and it was recovered from the dining table. In fact this money was brought for gratification to raise the purchase price of the medicine, "Fortwin" which was manufactured by the company of which Girish Davey was one of the senior representatives. Learned counsel for the appellant invited our attention to the following decisions of this court. (i) C.S.D. Swami v. State AIR 1960 SC 7; (ii) State of Maharashtra v. Wasudeo Ramchandra Kaidalwar [1981] 3 SCC 199; (iii) State of Maharashtra v. Pollonji Darabshaw Daruwalla AIR 1988 SC 88; (iv) K.Veeraswami v. Union of India [1991] 3 SCC 655; (v) P. Nallammal v. State represented by Inspector of Police [1999] 6 SCC 559. As against this, learned counsel for the respondent as well as the respondent in person have submitted that th ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... o discharge that burden, has examined the Investigating Officer, PW53-Shri Viswanathan, D.S.P. (Investigation). PW53-Viswanathan has collected all the materials from various places and he has given the details of his investigation. He has also supported the recoveries which have been made by the Income-tax Department. He, in his statement, has also deposed that some money was deposited at various branches of Punjab National Bank at Bangalore and he has examined all the senior managers of Punjab National Bank to show that various amounts were deposited in their banks and the prosecution has also produced them in the witness box to substantiate their allegation as P Ws. 22, 23, 24, 25, 26 and 32. He has also examined the persons against whose names those amounts were deposited in the witness box. He has also examined the Income-tax Officer as PW14, PW44-Assistant Director of Income-tax (Investigation) and PW51- S. Ganapathy Iyer. By this evidence the prosecution has established that the money was recovered at the house of the accused as well as various purchases of immovable properties made by the wife of the accused. The prosecution has tried to establish that all the moneys which h ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... reign exchange at her house and she has accounted for the same. She has also admitted the recovery of the gold ornaments at her house and she has explained that she has purchased those gold ornaments. She has also submitted that some real estate was purchased out of self earning as well as the loan from the mother of the son-in-law and some contribution was made by the son-in-law and the son-in-law has also admitted. Likewise, DW8-her son-in-law, Thiru S. Rajasankar, also appeared in the witness box and admitted that he has also saved certain foreign exchange when he had gone on various visits abroad. He has also admitted to have carried some money to be deposited in the bank. The accused has also come forward in the witness box as DW13 and has deposed that all the moneys belonged to his wife and when he came to know about the unaccounted money at his house, he gave a piece of his mind to her. He has admitted that on one or two occasions money was carried by himself to be deposited in the account in Punjab National Bank and some money was also deposited on account of some of the members of the family by PW8, S. Rajasankar, son-in-law. Therefore, under these circumstances, the respo ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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