STATEMENT OF ARTICLE OF CHARGE FRAMED AGAINST NO. 941400817 CONSTABLE SUBRATA NATH OF CISF UNIT KoPT KOLKATA.

Article of Charge

That the said No.941400817 Constable Subrata Nath of CISF Unit KoPT Kolkata (“C” Coy) while perforating “C” Shift duty from 2100 hrs on 07.11.2007 to 0500 hrs on 08.11.2007 at Alif Nagar Scrap Yard with Arms and Ammunition has failed to prevent theft of copper wire weighing about 800 Kgs which were laying with other bundles of copper wire at Alif Nagar Scrap Yard of KoPT under the security coverage of the said No. 941400817 Constable Subrata Nath.

The above act on the part of No. 941400817 Constable Subrata Nath amounts to gross negligence and dereliction of duty being member of a disciplined Force. Article of Charge-II That the said No. 941400817 Constable Subrata Nath of CISF Unit KoPT Kolkata during the period of his 13 years sendee in CISF has been involved himself in various delinquencies and thereby awarded 08 (Eight) punishments. Even then he did not mend himself and has developed an incorrigible character.”

4. An Inquiry Officer was appointed to conduct the inquiry in respect of the above charges. During the inquiry, eight prosecution witnesses were examined. However, the respondent did not produce any witness in his defence. After examining the evidence and the defence of the respondent, the Inquiry Officer held that both the charges framed against the respondent were duly proved. The Disciplinary Authority issued a Notice to Show Cause to the respondent in relation to the inquiry report, in response whereto, he submitted a representation. Vide order dated 27th November, 2008, the Disciplinary Authority, namely, the Commandant rejected the representation of the respondent.

It was observed that the statements of the prosecution witnesses corroborated with the scene of the crime and established that theft of copper wires from the Alif Nagar Scrap Yard had taken place when the respondent was on duty at the duty post. Further, the prosecution witnesses had proved that the respondent was found to be alert at the duty post by nine different checking officers, who had checked him in the intervening night on 7th/8th November, 2007, despite which, he did not report the criminal activities in his duty area.

5. Rejecting the plea taken by the respondent that the FIR had recorded the occurrence of the offence at 1530 hours on 8th November, 2007 which indicated that the theft had not taken place during his duty hours, the Disciplinary Authority held thus:

“12. After taking into account all the above aspect, I am of the opinion that prosecution witnesses by virtue of corroborative statements supported by documentary and circumstantial evidences has established, the Articles of charge-I proved against the charged official. On the other hand, the charged official could not come up with any convincing materials in his representation to disprove the Article of charge-I. Even he could not produce any defence witness. The defence documents produced by him during enquiry could not prove anything in his favour. The FIR copy produced by him (Defence Exhibit-6) showing occurrence of offence at about 1530 hours on 08.11.2007 by which he wanted to refute all claims of theft happening during his duty hours was examined in depth xxx xxx xxx

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The above complain shows that the recovery of the copper wire was made by the complainant at 1515 hours on 08.11.2007 whereas the FIR shows the occurrence of offence at 1530 hours on 08.11.2007 and the offence described as theft of a vehicle TATA-407 loaded with some coils of copper wire and recovery vehicle was laid at Alif Nagar KMC Sweeper Quarters. Thus, it means that the recovery of copper wire was made before the theft occurred, which is improbable and absurd indeed. It was further observed that FIR shows time of information received at 2200 hours on 08.11.2007, occurrence of theft at 1530 hours while complaint shows recovery was made at 1515 hours on same day. All these reveal that the recovery was made well before receiving information by the concerned police official of West Port Police station and even before occurrence of theft…………. Taking all these facts together it is clear that the FIR corroborates the fact of recovery of copper wire loaded in TATA- 407 vehicle and the statement of PW1, PW2 & PW8 corroborates the fact that the seized vehicle was held in police custody in the morning of 08.11.2007.

In totality of all the above it is established that the theft of copper wire from Alif Nagar scrap yard has occurred in the night of 07/08.11.2007 during the duty period of the charged official and the said copper wire was later recovered by West Port police and kept at their custody loaded in TATA-407 vehicle well before the visit of PW1, PW2 and PW8 at the west port police station in the morning of 08.11.2007………….As regards Article of Charge-II, I find that statement of PW4 and documentary evidences held on record clearly establish that the charged official has developed into incorrigible character who even after awarding 08 punishments for various delinquencies in his 13 years of service in CISF has not reformed himself. From the fact and factual position as assessed, discussed and evaluated above over the prosecution version and defence version, I find that the findings drawn by the enquiry officer are fair, reasoned and judicially justified in all respect. I, therefore, fully agree with the findings of the enquiry officer and hold the charged official guilty of the Article of Charge-I and Article of Charge-II.”

FORMAT under Rule 32 read with Schedule-I and Rule 32 (1) of the Central Industrial Security Force Rules, 2001