PRANAB KUMAR CHATTOPADHYAY,J. - (1.) THESE appeals arise out of a judgement and order dated 15th November, 2011 and also sentence order dated 16th November, 2011 passed by the learned Special Judge, A & N Islands, Port Blair in Special Case No.4 of 2011 whereby and whereunder the accused persons namely, P. Krishnamaraju (Appellant in Criminal Appeal No.008 of 2011), Abdul Rasheed (Appellant in Criminal Appeal No.003 of 2012), M.J. Vijayan (Appellant in Criminal Appeal No.001 of 2012) and Abdul Salam(Appellant in Criminal Appeal No.002 of 2012) were convicted for commission of offences punishable under Sections 409 and 120-B of the Indian Penal Code amongst others and sentenced as hereunder:- "That P. Krishnamaraju was sentenced to suffer imprisonment for life and to pay a fine of Rs.10,000/- in default simple imprisonment for 6 months for the offence under section 409 of Indian Penal Code. P. Krishnamaraju was also sentenced to suffer imprisonment for 1 year and to pay a fine of Rs.5000/- in default simple imprisonment for 3 months for the offence under section 13(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act 1988. Abdul Rasheed was sentenced to suffer imprisonment for life and to pay a fine of Rs.10,000/- in default simple imprisonment for 6 months for the offence under section 120 B read with section 409 of Indian Penal Code. Abdul Rasheed was also sentenced to suffer imprisonment for 6 months and to pay a fine of Rs.500/- in default simple imprisonment for 1 month for the charge under section 8(2) read with section 7 of Protection of Aboriginal Tribes Regulation (Amendment) 1956. M.J. Vijayan was sentenced to suffer imprisonment for life and to pay a fine of Rs.10,000/- in default simple imprisonment for 6 months for the offence under section 120 B read with section 409 of Indian Penal Code. M.J. Vijayan was also sentenced to suffer imprisonment for 6 months and to pay a fine of Rs.500/- in default simple imprisonment for 1 month for the charge under section 8(2) read with section 7 of Protection of Aboriginal Tribes Regulation (Amendment) 1956. Abdul Salam was sentenced to suffer imprisonment for life and to pay a fine of Rs.10,000/- in default simple imprisonment for 6 months for the offence under section 120 B read with section 409 IPC. The learned Judge further directed that all the sentences shall run concurrently. The period of detention of all the convicts during trial shall be set off under section 428 Criminal Procedure Code."
(2.) BY the aforesaid judgement and order dated 15th November, 2011, the learned Special Judge acquitted the accused M.P. Arun. Challenging the said order of acquittal an appeal has also been filed by the State being Government Appeal No.001 of 2012. The aforesaid appeals were heard analogously since the same arise out of a common judgement and order dated 15th November, 2011. The prosecution version is that a news item was published in the local daily namely "Aspect" on 2nd March, 2011 regarding leakage of question paper of AISS Examination, 2011 in respect of Science stream. The aforesaid news item, published in the news paper "Aspect", drew the attention of the Administration. In order to verify the correctness of the said news item, Mr. Sashi Kumar, Nodal Officer of Central Board of Secondary Education, A & N Islands and also the Assistant Director of Education, A & N Islands, who was at Car Nicobar on 3rd March, 2011, conducted preliminary examination of the packets of question papers kept in the strong room of Car Nicobar P.S. and thereafter, lodged a written complaint at Car Nicobar P.S. On the basis of the said written complaint, a case being Car Nicobar P.S. Case No.13 of 2011 was registered on 3rd March, 2011 under Section 406/420/468/470 of IPC.
(3.) ON the basis of the investigation, a prima facie case was made out against all the accused persons namely, P. Krishnamaraju, M.J. Vijayan, Abdul Salam, Abdul Rasheed and M.P. Arun. Thereafter, on 24th June, 2011, upon considering the materials on record and also hearing both the parties, charges were framed against all the aforesaid five accused persons.;