The Supreme Court has upheld the punishment of dismissal of three Navymen who robbed a bank at a Naval base in Andhra Pradesh 18 years ago.
The incident occurred on June 4, 1998 when the trio entered the Andhra Bank branch with rods and country-made pistols at a time when the bank was about to close. They forced the Manager and cashier to open the locker and managed to flee with ` 2,54,376.
Following their Court Martial verdict in the year 1999, they appealed to the Armed Forces Tribunal at Chennai. The tribunal acquitted one of the accused, DK Singh while upheld conviction on the other two. The Tribunal maintained their dismissal but ordered their release from jail reducing their sentence to period already undergone.
Coming down harshly on Tribunal for overlooking crucial evidence against the accused, the apex court felt that the prosecution had sufficient evidence to nail the accused. The bench of Chief Justice TS Thakur and Justice R Banumathi upheld their dismissal from service after noting that since their arrest on July 30, 1998, the police recovered the weapons used for the crime and even the unexplained cash deposited by two of the accused into their personal bank accounts within six days of the incident. Moreover, even the fingers prints lifted from the bank matched with that of the accused.