The Supreme Court has issued a show-cause notice to a convict who has produced a wrong copy of a verdict passed by the Trial Court and misled the Apex Court to get an order in his favour.
The Supreme Court on 23 July 2019, had passed a judgment allowing the convict to walk free in the corruption case on payment of only Rs 1000 as fine in a graft case. However, a subsequent inquiry and a report by the Secretary-General of the Apex Court indicated that the convict, S Shankar has misled the court to avoid the jail term.
The SC bench comprised of Justice Surya Kant and Justice Aniruddha Bose stated,
“After perusal of the report submitted by the secretary-general of the Supreme Court, we are satisfied that the appellant- S Shankar misled this court by producing a wrong copy of the judgment dated December 31, 2000, passed by the Special Judge for CBI Cases, Hyderabad.
Let, therefore, show-cause notice be issued to the appellant- S Shankar as to why order dated July 23, 2019, passed by this court, be not recalled and modified, further suitable action be not taken against him.”
S Shankar had filed an appeal in the Supreme Court in a graft case challenging the HC’s verdict of confirming trial court verdict. Shankar was convicted along with others in a graft case for different offences which include Criminal Breach of Trust, Conspiracy, and Corrupt Practices. He was also awarded a year of imprisonment and a fine of Rs 1000 from the Trial Court.
It was argued in the top court that Shankar was awarded to only pay a fine of Rs 1000 for the offences of Criminal Breach of Trust and Conspiracy under the Indian Penal Code and some other charges under the Prevention of Corruption Act. His lawyer also argued that the Andhra Pradesh High Court ‘wrongly construed’ the operative portion of a judgment of the trial court delivered in 2000.
The Court replied,
“Since we find that the trial court had merely imposed a sentence of payment of fine of Rs 1,000 on the appellant the judgment of the high court is clarified accordingly. In view of the above, the appeal stands disposed of making it clear that no sentence of imprisonment was imposed on Accused No. 5 (Shankar) by the trial court and the high court.”
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