Ex-RPF officials among 5 get four years RI in job racket case

Madurai: Unemployment is a menace to society, and unemployed youths are easy prey for individuals, who exploit them, Madras high court has observed while convicting and sentencing five people, including two former Railway Protection Force (RPF) officials, to undergo four years of rigorous imprisonment for cheating many by issuing forged appointment orders for posts in the RPF.
The prosecution's case is that six people - G Senthilkumar, G Ayyanar, R Kalidass, R Thangam, and two former RPF officials, R Baskaran and J M C Joyson from Chennai, along with C Raja (who turned approver) - conspired to cheat unemployed youth with the false promise of arranging employment with the RPF. They prepared forged documents, including applications for the posts of sub-inspector of police and police constable in the RPF. They also prepared forged documents, and appointment orders for several individuals upon receipt of money.
When a few individuals went to join duty with the forged appointment orders in 2009, the RPF officials discovered the forgery. The CBI, anti-corruption branch (ACB), Madurai, booked the six and subsequently arrested them. They filed the chargesheet before the trial court. Ayyanar died during pendency of trial.
In 2017, the II additional district court for CBI cases in Madurai acquitted the five of all charges. Challenging this, the CBI (ACB) preferred the present appeal in 2018.
Justice K K Ramakrishnan observed that corruption spreads its tentacles in all directions. Unemployed youths are in a disadvantageous position and are exploited by the accused. Therefore, in such cases, the trial court should have considered the evidence in a proper manner.
In the present case, the trial court failed to appreciate the evidence and gave the benefit of the doubt, resulting in a miscarriage of justice.
The judge noted that the function of the criminal court is to find out the truth, and it is not a correct approach to pick up minor lapses in an investigation, irrelevant omissions, and minor contradictions to acquit the accused when the ring of truth is undisturbed from the cogent and trustworthy evidence of prosecution witnesses. The forgery of the bogus appointment order and other documents was clearly proved beyond reasonable doubt.
Hence, the judge set aside the order of the trial court, convicted, and sentenced the five to four years rigorous imprisonment. The judge directed the superintendent of Madurai Central Prison to grant leave to Baskaran so that he could perform the 16th-day ceremony of his deceased wife. Baskaran was directed to surrender before prison authorities on March 27. The judge directed the CBI to secure the others and produce them before the prison authorities to undergo the sentence.