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| 171 Guns Sent on Forged Permit: Himalaya Arms Proprietor Gets One-Year Jail | | | Early Times Report
JAMMU, Aug 3: A Jammu court has sentenced the proprietor of M/s Himalaya Arms Company to one-year imprisonment for dishonestly using a forged transport permit to send 171 double-barrel guns from Jammu to Kanpur for proof testing. Chief Judicial Magistrate Jammu, Munish K. Manhas, awarded the sentence to Vinay Kumar Verma after holding him guilty of an offence under Section 471 of the Ranbir Penal Code, which deals with fraudulent or dishonest use of a forged document as genuine.
The court, however, acquitted Verma of the charge under Section 420 RPC, observing that the prosecution had failed to prove that his act caused, or was likely to cause, damage or harm to the body, mind, reputation or property of any person.
The case revolved around transport permit No. 3455-59/DMJ/2011 dated May 14, 2011, purportedly issued by the office of the District Magistrate, Jammu, for transporting 171 DBBL guns manufactured by Himalaya Arms Company to the Small Arms Quality Assurance Establishment at Kanpur.
The alleged fraud came to light after the Kanpur authorities raised a demand of Rs 1.88 lakh as proof-testing charges and forwarded a copy of the communication to the Jammu administration. Verification by the District Magistrate's office revealed that no such permit had been issued in favour of Himalaya Arms Company.
During the trial, Public Prosecutor K.S. Pathania appeared for the CBI, while Advocate Himanshu Sharma and Associates represented the accused.
The prosecution placed forensic evidence before the court showing that the signatures purportedly belonging to then Additional District Magistrate Sheetal Nanda on the disputed permit were forged. The official seal appearing on the document also did not match the specimen seal of the District Magistrate's office.
The CFSL, New Delhi, meanwhile, confirmed that the applicant's signature appearing on the transport permit belonged to accused Vinay Kumar Verma.
According to the prosecution, Verma deputed Ravi Kumar, the then manager of Himalaya Arms Company, to carry the weapons and the disputed transport permit to Kanpur. After proof testing, the 171 guns were transported back to Jammu through M/s Safex Transport Company and subsequently sold to different arms dealers.
Rejecting the defence plea that the document had been physically carried and used by the manager, the court observed that Ravi Kumar had acted on behalf of his employer. The accused, being the proprietor of the company, remained the sole beneficiary of the forged permit.
The court held that the evidence established that the disputed transport permit was under Verma's exclusive control and that he knew, or had sufficient reason to believe, that it was forged.
The CJM also noted that Verma was an experienced arms manufacturer who was fully aware of the procedure for obtaining transport permits. Despite this, he failed to explain how the forged document came into his possession or produce any official application, receipt or record showing that the permit had been lawfully obtained.
The case was initially registered at Police Station Gangyal in September 2011 following an inquiry into the forged permit. It was subsequently transferred to the CBI, which registered the case in 2013 and presented the chargesheet before the court.
Holding that the prosecution had proved dishonest use of the forged transport permit beyond reasonable doubt, the court convicted Verma under Section 471 RPC and sentenced him to one-year imprisonment.
(JNF) |
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