R. M. BAPAT, J. ( 1 ) CRIMINAL Appeal No. 1066 of 1997 is filed by A1 and Criminal appeal No. 1067 of 1997 is filed by A2. Both the appeals arise out of the judgment passed in C. C. No. 4 of 1996, which was decided by the Special Judge for CBI Cases, visakhapatnam. They are disposed of by a common judgment. ( 2 ) THE accused-appellants herein were tried for the offences punishable under sections 120-B, 409, 420 and 477-A IPC and under Section 13 (l) (c) read with section 13 (2) and under Section 13 (l) (d) (ii) read with Section 13 (2) of the Prevention of corruption Act. On evidence the learned judge found the accused guilty of the said charges and each of them were sentenced to suffer rigorous imprisonment for three years and also to pay a fine of Rs. 500/- each under each count and in default to suffer simple imprisonment for 30 days under each count. ( 3 ) AGGRIEVED by the aforesaid order of conviction and sentence, the accused- appellants herein are filed the present appeals. ( 4 ) THE case of the Prosecution can briefly be narrated as follows: P. W. I is the senior Branch Manager in Indian Bank, governorpet, Vijayawada. According to the version of P. W. I, the Indian Bank is having a Staff Training Centre in the first floor of the building where the Branch is located. A-l was the Faculty Incharge and head of the Staff Training Centre. A-2 is the Clerk-cum-Typist in the said training centre. The Staff Training Centre was having a current account bearing No. 102 at governorpet Branch. A-1 was having a personal S. B. Account No. 10690. A2 was having two SB Account bearing Nos. 7776 and 7641. It is said that whenever the staff Training Centre requires money, they were supposed to present debit slips (vouchers) in the name of Indian Bank general Account (I. B. G. A) and after the amount is credited to the current account, the amount can be withdrawn by issuing cheques. Ex. P-6 is the debit vouchers presented by the Staff Training Centre, vijayawada, which are authenticated by a-1. The amounts covered under Ex. P-6 are paid by cash. Exs. P8 to P-18 are other debit vouchers and the amount was received by A-l by putting his signature on the reverse of the vouchers. Ex. P-6 is the debit vouchers presented by the Staff Training Centre, vijayawada, which are authenticated by a-1. The amounts covered under Ex. P-6 are paid by cash. Exs. P8 to P-18 are other debit vouchers and the amount was received by A-l by putting his signature on the reverse of the vouchers. A-2 is said to have received the amount of Rs. 10,000/- by signing on the reverse of Exs. P-17 and p-18. Ex. P-19 is the cheque book issued to the Staff Training Centre. All the cheques covered by Ex. P-19 are authenticated by a-l by putting his signature on the reverse of the vouchers. ( 5 ) IT is further stated by the prosecution that A-l received the amounts covered under the cheques Ex. P-19 except the amounts covered by cheque Nos. 19 (A) to 19 (H ). Ex. P-20 are the cheques issued by A-1 in favour of A-2, who received the amounts by signing on the reverse except the amounts covered by Exs. P-20 (A) to P-20 (D ). P. W. 4 is the Faculty member of Staff Training Centre, Madras. He found some irregularities in the expenditure statements of Staff Training centre, Vijayawada. P. W. 9, the Senior manager, Vigilance, on receipt of the instructions from the General Manager, indian Bank, to verify the accounts of sundries receivable by the Staff Training college, Vijayawada, proceeded to vijayawada. He along with M. V. N. Mudaliar verified all the records and in that process they got opened the table drawer of A-2 and found the torn of sheets from the general Ledger of Staff Training Centre, vijayawada. Exs. P-29 and P-30 are the ledger sheets. Ex. P-31 is the general ledger book of Staff Training Centre, Vijayawada, which was maintained by A-1 and A-2. P. W. 9 submitted a preliminary report dated 4-10-1993, which is marked as Ex. P-36. Ex. P-37 is the regular report giving the details of investigation and submitted on 15-10-1993. P. W. 2 is the Faculty Member of Staff Training Centre, Madras. He was present when the inspection was done and he informed the proceedings to the principal, Staff Training Centre, Madras and he was asked to inform periodically the position. P. Ws. 5, 6 and 7 are the clerk- cum-cashiers, Indian Bank, Governorpet branch, Vijayawada, who speak about A-l remitting the amount in Governorpet Branch. Exs. He was present when the inspection was done and he informed the proceedings to the principal, Staff Training Centre, Madras and he was asked to inform periodically the position. P. Ws. 5, 6 and 7 are the clerk- cum-cashiers, Indian Bank, Governorpet branch, Vijayawada, who speak about A-l remitting the amount in Governorpet Branch. Exs. P-21 (A) to P-21 (H) are pay-in-slips for the amounts deposited by A-1. ( 6 ) ON 1-11-1994 P. W. 10, the Inspector of Police, registered the case in Cr. No. R. C. 26 (A)/94. Ex. P-38 is the F. I. R. Thereafter he examined all the witnesses and filed the charge-sheet. ( 7 ) THE defence of the accused is one of total denial. It is also suggested by the accused by way of defence that it may be a mistake in totalling but there was no intention on their part to misappropriate the amounts of the Bank. ( 8 ) IN order to bring guilt to the home of the accused, the prosecution led the evidence of P. Ws. l to 10. Certain documents were produced by them and they were marked as Exs. P-1 to P-38. On behalf of the defence, D. W. I was examined. ( 9 ) P. W. 1 happened to be working as senior Branch Manager, Governorpet, vijayawada from 24-5-1993. He deposed that the Indian Bank is having a Staff training Centre in the first floor of the building in which the Governorpet branch is located. It is further stated by him that A-l and A-2 are known to him and he also knows their signatures. He further deposed that A-l was the Faculty Incharge and A-2 is the Clerk-cum-Typist in the said training centre at the relevant period. He further stated in his evidence that the staff training centre has a current account in the same branch bearing No. 102. Ex. P-1 is the ledger sheets of current account No. 102 of staff training centre, Vijayawada. A-l was having a personal account. A-2 is also having two personal accounts. It is stated by him that whenever the staff training centre requires money, they used to present debit slips in the name of Indian bank General Account, (in short I. B. G. A.) and the said amount is to be credited to the account of Staff Training Centre and thereafter the amount was withdrawn by debit vouchers. Ex. It is stated by him that whenever the staff training centre requires money, they used to present debit slips in the name of Indian bank General Account, (in short I. B. G. A.) and the said amount is to be credited to the account of Staff Training Centre and thereafter the amount was withdrawn by debit vouchers. Ex. P-6 is the debit vouchers numbering about 56 presented by the Staff training Centre. All the debit vouches are together marked as Ex. P6. All the vouchers were authenticated by A-l as the Faculty incharge. The amounts covered under debit vouchers were paid in cash except Exs. P-7 to P-18 debit vouchers and the amount covered by other debit vouchers of Ex. P-6 was received by A-1 by putting his signature on the reverse of the voucher. He further deposed that A-2 received an amount of rs. 10,000/- mentioned in Ex. P-7 debit voucher by putting his signature on the reverse of it. The amounts covered by exs. P-8, P-9, P-11, P-12 and P-18 debit vouchers were received by Vijaya Lakshmi by putting her thumb impression on the reverse of the debit vouchers. The amounts covered by Exs. P-13 to P-17 were received by one Seshagiri Rao by putting his signature on the reverse of the debit vouchers. The debit vouchers Exs. P-7 to P-18 contain the signatures of A-1 on the reverse of those debit vouchers. Ex. P19 is the cheque book issued to the Saff Training centre. All the cheques covered under ex. P19 were authenticated by A-1 by putting his signatures on the reverse of the debit vouchers. Ex. P-19 contains 61 cheques. Exs. P-19-A, P-19-B, P-19-G and P-19-H are cheques. The amount was received by one Seshagiri Rao by putting his signature on the reverse of the cheques. Mr. Seshagiri rao was examined as D. W. 1 by the defence. His evidence would be discussed later on. Vijaya Lakshmi received the amounts under the cheques Exs. P-19b, P-19c and P-19e by putting her thumb impressions on the reverse of those cheques. A-2 received the amount under the cheque Ex. P19f by putting his signature on the reverse of the said cheque. A-l put his signature on the reverse of all 61 cheques. A-l received the amounts under the cheques Ex. P-19 except the amounts covered by cheques Ex. P-19a to P-19h. A-2 received the amount under the cheque Ex. P19f by putting his signature on the reverse of the said cheque. A-l put his signature on the reverse of all 61 cheques. A-l received the amounts under the cheques Ex. P-19 except the amounts covered by cheques Ex. P-19a to P-19h. ( 10 ) IT is further stated by him that A-l withdrew an amount of Rs. 80,000/- from his S. B. Account No. 12393 and credited the said amount to the account of Indian Bank staff training centre on 29-9-1993. This witness was cross-examined but nothing is elicited in the cross-examination to discredit the evidence of P. W. I. P. W. I was examined by the prosecution only to show the manner in which the transaction is to be done by A1 and A-2 with Indian bank. ( 11 ) P. W. 2. happened to be successor of A-1. The evidence of P. W. 2 was recorded in order to show that after the irregularities were noticed, A-l was transferred from the staff training centre. He further stated that when Radha Krishnan, senior Manager, Vigilance Central Office, indian Bank, Madras and V. N. Mudaliar, faculty Incharge, Indian Bank Staff Training centre, Madras visited the staff training centre at Vijayawada, A-2 was absent. In his absence, the table drawer of A-2 was opened. They found the ledger sheets, which are produced on record as Exs. P-29, bearing nos. 173, 174, 155 and 156. They further found the ledger sheets bearing Nos. 205, 206, 219 and 220, which are produced on recorded, as Ex. P-30. Exs. P-29 and P-30 ledger sheets were found in the table drawer of A-2. They were recovered by Mr. Radha krishnan, i. e. , P. W. 9 and one Mudaliar in his presence. This witness was examined to prove the fact that the Staff Training Centre was maintaining ledgers and some of the ledger papers or leaves from the ledgers were torn out by A-2 and they were kept in his drawer. ( 12 ) P. W. 3 happened to be the inspector of all branches. According to his evidence, he inspected the Staff Training centre and found irregularities. Therefore, he submitted his report Ex. P-32 to the general Manager and thus the investigation proceeded. ( 12 ) P. W. 3 happened to be the inspector of all branches. According to his evidence, he inspected the Staff Training centre and found irregularities. Therefore, he submitted his report Ex. P-32 to the general Manager and thus the investigation proceeded. ( 13 ) P. W. 4 was examined to show that the staff training centre, Madras used to receive monthly expenditure statements from the staff training centre, Vijayawada. This witness was working as Core Faculty member, Staff Training College, Madras. He has identified Ex. P-34 the expenditure statement for the year 1992-93 of Staff training Centre, Vijayawada. He further identified the expenditure statement Ex. P-34 stating that it did not tallying with the statement at pages 21 and 22 of Ex. P-32 the inspection report. ( 14 ) AS stated earlier, when the search was carried out and the table drawer of A-2 was opened, the torn leaves of the ledgers were found in the drawer of A-2. Therefore, this witness has stated that the expenditure statement Ex. P-34 is not tallying with the statement at pages 21 and 22 of ex. P-32. ( 15 ) P. W. 5 was working as Clerk-cum-Sharoff in indian Bank, Governorpet branch, Vijayawada. According to his evidence, he knew the signature of A-l. He has identified the signature of A-1 on Ex. P-21a, P-21b, P-21c, which are pay- in-slips for the amounts credited in favour of Indian Bank, Staff Training Centre, vijayawada. He further deposed that rs. 40,000/-, Rs. 1,10,000/- and Rs. 2,15,000/- covered by Exs. P-21a to P-21c respectively were paid by G. P. Krishna Rao and this witness had received the amount in the receipts Cash Counter. All those slips bear the signature of A-1. ( 16 ) THE evidence of P. Ws. 6 and 7 is not much significance as far as the present case is concerned. ( 17 ) P. W. 8 was examined to prove the sanction Ex. P-35 to prosecute the accused. ( 18 ) P. W. 9 happened to be working as senior Manager, Vigilance Department, indian Bank, Central Office, Chennai. The said witness was examined to bring on record the procedure under which A-l and A-2 were withdrawn the amounts. ( 19 ) P. W. 10 is the Investigating Officer. This is all the evidence led by the prosecution on their behalf. The said witness was examined to bring on record the procedure under which A-l and A-2 were withdrawn the amounts. ( 19 ) P. W. 10 is the Investigating Officer. This is all the evidence led by the prosecution on their behalf. ( 20 ) NOW the question before this Court is whether the accused-appellants herein have misappropriated the amount? ( 21 ) THE evidence of P. W. I coupled with the evidence of P. W. 9 discloses that the Staff Training Centre, Vijayawada had independent account in the Indian Bank, governorpet branch, Vijayawada. Whenever they required any amount, they used to sign the vouchers. Then the Indian Bank used to credit the amount to the account of staff training centre and the account of debit and credit vouchers was maintained by A-l and A-2. They were supposed to account for every pie which they withdrew for the purposes of their expenses. Ex. P-29 is a ledger sheet, which was found in the table drawer of A-2 and which was removed from the original ledger. At the beginning of the ledger in the year 1992 it was shown that Rs. lo,22,479-57ps was the balance. But after removing Ex. P-23 from the ledger book, the accused starting writing the accounts on a new ledger paper in the same book at page 157. Instead of carrying forward an amount of Rs. 10,22,479-57 ps. , they were written Rs. 4,22,479-57 ps. and thereafter they started writing the further account. It means that the accused probably thought while carrying forward the balance if some mistake is made, then they have a chance of misappropriating the amount of Rs. 6,00,000/ -. The debit voucher to the extent of Rs. 6,00,000/- were not produced by A-1 and A-2 to the Indian bank. They went on writing the account on ex. P-31. ( 22 ) IT is evident from the evidence on record that whatever the amount was withdrawn by A-1 and A-2 under different cheques and vouchers, they were supposed to account for every pie. In the present case, the accused were not able to account for a sum of Rs. 600,000/ -. It is in the evidence of the prosecution witnesses that a-2 deposited the said amount during investigation but that cannot be a defence for the accused. This Court is of the considered view that the accused-appellants herein did misappropriate an amount of rs. 600,000/ -. It is in the evidence of the prosecution witnesses that a-2 deposited the said amount during investigation but that cannot be a defence for the accused. This Court is of the considered view that the accused-appellants herein did misappropriate an amount of rs. 6,00,000/- from the account of staff training centre by writing false accounts in the ledger book while writing Ex. P-31 they wrote the balance as Rs. 4,22,479-57 ps. instead of Rs. 10,22,479-57 ps. This court finds no reason to tore out the leaf from the original ledger. It means that A-1 and A-2 shared the common intention of misappropriating the amount of Rs. 6,00,000/ -. There is no explanation given by the accused as to why the original leaf from the ledger book was torned by them. The fact of toring the leaves from the original ledger book itself shows that they intended to misappropriate the amount. ( 23 ) UNDER these circumstances, this court finds no reason to interfere with the order of conviction and sentence recorded by the Special Judge for CBI Cases, visakhapatnam against the accused-appellants herein. Therefore, both the criminal Appeals are dismissed. ( 24 ) THE accused-appellants herein are directed to surrender their bail bonds forthwith. The trial Judge is directed to take steps make to the accused-appellants herein to serve the conviction and sentence imposed upon them.