| Prosecution failure leads to acquittal of 2 SFC managers in corruption case | | VOJ fails to prove case after 20 yrs of probe, trial | | Early Times Report
Jammu, Jan 21: Special Judge, Anti-Corruption, A K Koul today ordered the acquittal of then SFC manager Varinder Kumar Kohli, assistant manager Ravinder Mishra, Ulhas Dogra and Kulbir Singh, who were facing trail in a corruption case as VOJ (vigilance organisation, Jammu) failed to prove its case after 20 years of investigation and trial.
The judge said it was the duty of the court to put on record that the failure of this case was mainly attributable to the investigating officers (IOs), who had dealt with this case from time to time. "It needs not be emphasised that successful prosecution of a guilty person depends upon a thorough and careful search for truth and collection of evidence, which is both admissible and probative. The manner in which police investigations are conducted is of critical importance in the functioning of criminal justice system," he observed.
"The state vigilance organization is a premier investigating agency of the state for a particular category of offences. It has a huge infrastructure and man power at its disposal and one expects it to handle investigations in a responsible and result-oriented manner. Investigation includes search for material facts in order to find out whether or not an offence has been committed. The VOJ has a specific task to determine the extent of fraud, the amount of loss and the person involved in the fraud and it is always expected that once a case is registered against a government official or anyone else, the investigator conducts a very fair investigation so that the truth is unveiled. What is discernable about this case is that the probe has been investigated by three IOs but without any result. How can one expect that the IOs, even after conducting a huge exercise, could not form any opinion against any individual. The process of law was set in motion by a person in April 1995. After a decade the charge sheet was laid before the court and it has taken the court another decade to reach the final conclusion but at the end of the day what came to the fore is that the IOs have dealt with the probe in a perfunctory and casual manner, which has been, in fact, the main cause of the debacle of the prosecution case. We need to understand that a period of two decades has been wasted for nothing. How much trauma, inconvenience, financial loss and harassment the accused must have faced during all this time. Is it not a case of wastage of time, energy and resources with no gain? Had the IOs used their investigating skills in a proper manner, the situation could have been different. If state believes that crime has been committed, the result should have come forth but that has not happened. I may not be wrong in saying that right from day one the IOs appeared to have lost direction and could not catch up the right track and ultimately they filed the charge sheet before the court which ultimately did not succeed. It is painful to notice that no meaningful attempt appears to have been made to ascertain the authorship of certain questioned documents. Certain demand drafts have been issued in the name of a firm, which have been encashed by a stranger and how that could be done and with whose connivance it was possible, has not been ascertained. The IOs even could not lay hands on the demand drafts which were allegedly encashed by a person, who had no authority to do it. The role of officers/officials of SFC, who had acted casually in releasing the loan amount in favour of the promoters, has not been ascertained. Simply, a cosmetic exercise has been conducted and certain officers booked, who ultimately proved to be innocent. There may be a limitless diversity of new and emerging crime types, which confront and challenge contemporary police officers and the investigators have to be up to date and innovative regardless of the type of the crime, the modus operandi of the accused and the manner in which it has been committed but it is regretful and rather agonizing that the senior IOs of this case have not demonstrated at least the basic investigative skills. Less said the better, it is too late now for them to mend the things in this case but at least they should exert to the best of their capability in future to arrive at the truth, if they are still in service," the judge said.
With these observations, he ordered the acquittal of the accused. —JNF |
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