New Delhi, Aug 25 (PTI) The Supreme Court on Thursday acquitted a bank official, who was earlier convicted and served a four-year sentence in a case relating to the theft of Rs six lakh from the safe and strong room of the bank in 2004.

The apex court said there was no evidence to satisfy the court that there was a prior meeting of minds between the appellant, who was the head cashier at the time of the incident, and the other two bank employees who were held guilty in the case.

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A bench of Justices B R Gavai and P S Narasimha said the prosecution has failed to establish the circumstances in which the appellant, being the custodian of only one set of keys for the dual lock system functional in the bank, could alone be made responsible for providing access to the strong room and the safe.

The top court noted that office manual of the bank provides that cash was to be stored in the strong room, guarded by a dual control system, where locks were secured by two keys operable successively and separately and the branch manager and the cashier-in-charge were to be in the joint custody of the sets of keys to the strong room and safe.

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"The very purpose and object of the dual lock system are to prevent any single custodian from accessing the strong room and the safe," the bench said in its judgement.

The apex court delivered its verdict on an appeal challenging the judgement of the Madhya Pradesh High Court which had confirmed the conviction of the appellant in the case.

The high court had also confirmed the sentence of four years awarded to him by the trial court.

The apex court, while allowing the appeal, noted that all three accused have already served their sentences.

It noted that three accused, who were employees of the Guna branch of the bank, were prosecuted for the offences, including that theft, house trespass, and destruction of valuable security.

The bench noted that two accused were convicted and sentenced concurrently given the evidence, as per which the money was proved to have been recovered from their possession, while the appellant was convicted and sentenced only with the aid of section 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

"The evidence is shorn of even a passive acknowledgment of conspiracy of the appellant with the accused, let alone heralding a clear and conscientious participation of the appellant in the conspiracy," it said.

The bench observed that so far as the appellant is concerned, there was neither any overt act attributable to him nor any recovery of stolen property from him.

It noted that the conclusion drawn against him was only for the reason that he was in exclusive possession of the set of keys used to open the locks of the main gate, the grill of the strong room, and the safe inside it.

The apex court said as per one of the clauses of the office manual, both the key holders were mandatorily required to be present each time the locks were secured or opened, except in emergency circumstances which stipulate handing over the key to the next senior official and recording the same in the key movement register.

It said the clause stipulates that both the key holders are jointly responsible for the contents of the strong room and the safe.

"Under these circumstances, we are of the opinion that the appellant cannot be solely held accountable for the failure to comply with the office manual, and for this reason, the appellant's exclusive possession of the keys cannot render him culpable of the offences as mentioned earlier," it said.

It said the principal ingredient of the offence of criminal conspiracy under section 120-B of the IPC is an agreement to commit an offence and such an agreement must be proved through direct or circumstantial evidence.

"The appellant is acquitted of all the charges," the bench said.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)