Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Jan 21: Special Judge Anticorruption Jammu, A K Koul today acquitted Varinder Kumar Kohli, the then Manager SFC, Ravinder Mishra, the then Assistant Manager SFC and Ulhas Dogra and Kulbir Singh, who were facing trial in corruption case, as Vigilance Organization failed to prove its case even after 20 years long investigation and trial.
While acquitting the accused persons, Special Judge Anticorruption observed, “it is duty of court to put on record that the failure of this case is mainly attributable to the investigating officers, who have dealt with this case from time to time”, adding “it need not be emphasized that successful prosecution of a guilty person depends on 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”.
“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 it is expected of this agency to deal with the investigation in a responsible and result oriented manner”, the court said, adding “investigation includes search for material facts in order to find out whether or not an offence has been committed”.
“The Vigilance Organization 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”, the court said, adding “while dealing with this case what is discernable is that the case has been investigated by three investigating officers but without any result”.
“How can one expect that the investigating officers 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 investigating officers have dealt with the investigation in a perfunctory and casual manner, which has been in fact the main cause of the debacle of the prosecution case”, Special Judge Anticorruption observed.
“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 investigating officers used their investigating skills in a proper manner the situation could have been different. If State believed that crime had been committed then the result should have come forth but that has not happened”, the court further said, adding “it is painful to notice that no meaningful attempt appears to have been made to ascertain the authorship of certain questioned documents”.
“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 investigating officers of this case have not demonstrated at least the basic investigative skills”, the court said, adding “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”.
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