Court discharges Principal MHAC Nagbani, others of charges of misappropriation

Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Oct 22: Sub-Judge (JMIC) Jammu Kusum Pandita has discharged Alok Betab, the then Principal MHAC School Nagbani, Swarn Singh, Sudesh Kumar and Ganesh Kumar, Class-IV Employees in the much publicized case of misappropriation of wood for which Police Station Domana on September, 28, 2016 had registered an FIR No.296/2016 under Section 420/409/379 RPC.
After hearing Senior Advocate Sunil Sethi with Advocate Vishal appearing for Principal Alok Betab and others, court observed, “the allegations against the accused in the charge sheet are that the accused were transporting the wood without permission. However, it is nowhere mentioned in the charge sheet as to how the seized wooden logs were being misappropriated by Principal Alok Betab or how the logs were being converted for the own use of the Principal”.
Senior Advocate Sunil Sethi vehemently argued that a conspiracy had been hatched by some vested interest to ensure the removal of Principal Alok Betab from the prestigious chair of the Principal and to tarnish the school image before the DAV Management and public at large.
He further submitted that a routine affair of converting fallen wooden logs to school furniture was painted into a criminal case just to destroy the image of a reputed institution and a Principal.
“From the perusal of the Police Challan and the material collected by the Police during investigation what comes to fore is that there is not an iota of proof on record of the file to suggest that the accused by dishonest intention misappropriated the wooden logs or converted the same to their own use”, Senior Advocate Sethi said.
On this court observed, “there is weight in the submissions of senior counsel Sunil Sethi that there is not an iota of proof on record to connect the accused with the commission of offence”, adding “the wooden logs were simply transported from the school premises to a saw mill for sawing purpose, in order to convert the same into furniture items to be used in the school and prima-facie there is no evidence that logs were being transported by the accused for their personal use or were being misappropriated”.
With these observations, court held that on the basis of material available on record, the offences under Section 409, 420 RPC are not made out against the accused including the then Principal Alok Betab. “As such the accused are discharged and acquitted of the charges”, the court ordered.

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