Kulwant Singh v. State of Punjab
In the High Court of Punjab & Haryana
Crl-M 16724/2020
Before Justice Deepak Sibal
Decided on July 15, 2020

Relevancy of the case: Application for anticipatory bail in a case concerning embezzlement and forgery in a cooperative society by disbursing loans to dummy bank accounts

Statutes and Provisions Involved

• The Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (Sections 438)
• The Indian Penal Code, 1860 (Sections 120B, 409, 420, 465, 467, 468, 471, 477A)
• The Information Technology Act, 2000 (Sections 66, 66D)
• The Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 (Section 13)

Relevant Facts of the Case

• The petitioner was the secretary of a cooperative society. He connived with the Amritsar Central Cooperative Bank officials and other accused persons to embezzle the society’s funds.
• They manipulated bank entries to disburse loan amounts under different government schemes to the farmers’ accounts. Additionally, they withdrew the amount through dummy accounts, making partial payments to the farmers.
• The bank lodged a complaint against the petitioner and the other accused persons. It also constituted an enquiry committee, which submitted its report on July 06, 2020.

Opinion of the Bench

• The petitioner’s custodial interrogation was necessary to unearth pertinent information concerning the allegations of embezzlement.

Final Decision

• The bench dismissed the petition and directed the Joint Director of Income Tax (Investigation), Amritsar, to examine the matter and take appropriate action based on the investigation.

Jyotsna Sood, an undergraduate student at the National Law Institute University, Bhopal, prepared this case summary during her internship with The Cyber Blog India in May/June 2024.