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PETITIONER: RAMASWAMY NADAR
Vs.
RESPONDENT: THE STATE OF MADRAS
DATE OF JUDGMENT: 11/10/1957
BENCH:
ACT: Criminal law-Misappropriation-Prize Competition-Entry fees- No rule that amount of fees should be reserved for Payment to prize winners--Failure to Pay prize winners-Whether dishonest misappropriation-Reversal of order of Acquittal- Conviction for a different offence-Legality-Indian Penal Code (Act XLV of 1860), ss. 403, 420-Code of Criminal Procedure (Act V of 1898),s. 423(1)(a)(b).
HEADNOTE: The appellant, who used to carry on the business of conduct- ing prize competitions, was prosecuted on a charge under S. 420 of the Indian Penal Code. The case against him was that though he found that his competitions did not attract a sufficiently large number of competitors to yield the guaranteed prize money, he advertised the competition in question and collected a large amount by way of entry fees with a dishonest intention, and did not utilize any part of the collected amount towards payment of the prizes offered. The Magistrate found that there was no evidence that the accused had used any part of the entry fees collected in any of the competitions for his own use but that, on the other hand, in order to meet the he...