After over 21 years, court acquits 3 in spurious soft drink factory case

More than 21 years after an FIR was registered against three on the charge of criminal conspiracy for running a spurious soft drink factory, a Delhi court has acquitted the trio, saying investigation was not done with the sincerity required.

The court also acquitted them of the charge of infringement of copyright, and said the manner in which the prosecution witnesses were examined, seemed it was only paperwork without a specific target in mind.

The court was hearing a case against Shankar, Mahesh and Bhupinder Singh, who were arrested for allegedly running a factory where some spurious drink was filled into empty soft drink bottles of Pepsi and Coca Cola in Sudarshan Park area of west Delhi on June 18, 2001.

 

In my opinion, the accused have been able to raise a probable defence creating doubt about the existence or veracity of the prosecution version which renders the same untrustworthy. Accordingly, accused persons are acquitted of the charge levelled against them, Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Kapil Kumar said in an order on Monday.

The court noted that according to the deposition of the sub-inspector, who had arrested the accused, two officials of Pepsi and Coca Cola companies came to the spot after the raid and after comparing the bottles, concluded that the recovered bottles were not of companies concerned.

Despite the fact that the case remained at the stage of prosecution evidence for more than 10 years the prosecution could not examine these witnesses, who could have deposed as to what they observed in the bottles recovered from the spot vide which they concluded that the bottles were not of Pepsi and Coca Cola companies, the court said.

This turns out to be fatal for the case of the prosecution, the court added.

The court further said that as the bottles with the alleged counterfeit mark were not produced in the court, it was a "major blow to the prosecution's case.

The prosecution did not bring on record the machinery used for making spurious cold drinks, nor did it produce the existing copyright certificate in favour of the complainant company, the court said.

The court further said it seems that the prosecution lost track as to whether they are examining witnesses for infringement of copyright or of infringement of designs.

The raid in the residential locality did not instil the faith of the court as no sincere attempts were made to join public witnesses, it said.

Noting that the seizure memos were prepared prior to the registration of the FIR, the court said either the FIR was recorded prior to the alleged recovery of the case property or the number of the FIR was inserted in the document after its registration.

The seal handing over memo was not placed on record and there was a delay of around one year in sending the exhibits for chemical examination, the court said.

The investigation was not done with the sincerity which was required in the facts of this case, the court said.

The alleged recovery of the bottles even if taken as proved, for the sake of arguments, cannot prove the case of prosecution for the infringement of the copyright and the manner in which the prosecution witnesses were examined, seems to be paperwork only without a specific target in mind, the court added.

The Moti Nagar police station had registered an FIR against the accused person under Section 120 B (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC along with relevant sections of the Copyright Act.