The Kerala High Court has confirmed the conviction of a junior superintendent of the Nedumangad Munsif Court in a case relating to the misappropriation of ₹2,20,000 involved in a case and kept under the safe custody of the court.
The court also upheld the sentence awarded by the Thiruvananthapuram Vigilance Court to the staffer.
The prosecution case was that the superintendent had dishonestly misappropriated the amount during the period from September 4, 2001 to June 8, 2006. The Vigilance court had sentenced him to one year rigorous imprisonment and a fine of ₹3,000.
Dismissing the appeal filed by the accused, who died during the pendency of the case, the court observed that it did not see any reason to disbelieve the evidence which was consistent, trustworthy, and convincing. Thus, the prosecution had succeeded in proving beyond reasonable doubt that the accused had unauthorisedly kept the amount in his custody.
The court asked the wife of the accused to deposit the fine at the Vigilance court.
