Paridhi Arya
Published on May 16, 2022 at 15:02 IST
The Calcutta High Court Single Judge Bench of Justice Ananda Kumar Mukherjee pointed out that in Charge-sheet or First Information Report there is no allegation which shows that illegal agreement was made by an Accused Advocate.
“The act of the Petitioner in submitting a wrong Report without examining the basic tenets of ownership and possession of the property reveals his want of professional skill for which he may be held negligent, but in absence of tangible material it would not imply that he conspired with the principal accused persons in defrauding the bank,” observed by the Single-Judge.
The facts of the Case are that Petitioner was asked to verify the document submitted in the bank for loan for which verification report submitted by Petitioner was wrong.
Mere submission of wrong verification report does not lead to the conclusion that there is Criminal Conspiracy and accordingly the False Report was submitted by the Petitioner.
“There is no allegation or material in the Charge-sheet that the Petitioner made any wrongful gain from the co-accused persons or he had any pecuniary benefit for preparing a wrong search report in favour of the company,” the Court underscored.
The Court noted that Petitioner was negligent for performing his duties but it cannot be assumed that he had conspired to do illegal actor benefited for submitting wrong report.
The Court decided to allow Plea for quashing of Case in accordance with the Supreme Court Judgement in Case of Central Bureau of Investigation, Hyderabad Vs. K Narayana Rao where Court held.
“Merely because his opinion may not be acceptable, he cannot be mulcted with the Criminal Prosecution, particularly, in the absence of Tangible Evidence that he associated with other conspirators.”
“At the most, he may be liable for gross negligence or professional misconduct if it is established by acceptable evidence and cannot be charged for the Offence under Sections 420 and 109 Indian Penal Code along with other conspirators without proper and acceptable link between them.”