A local court in Aligarh has convicted an 85-year-old man in a 36-year-old cheating case and later on the same day, ordered his release on probation of good conduct for one year. The court on Tuesday also directed convict Virendra Kumar Chaudhary to appear before the district probation officer on April 16. Virendra who is out on bail appeared before the court on Tuesday. “Chief Judicial Magistrate Karuna Singh held him guilty on Tuesday, after which he was taken into custody. Giving benefit of section 4 of the Probation of Offender Act read with Section 360 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPc), the court ordered for his release on probation of good conduct,” said government counsel, Aligarh, Indrajeet Pal. The court also directed to collect a personal bond of Rs 25,000 and two sureties of the same amount from Virendra, he added. “The convict has to maintain good conduct, peace and will not involve in any other criminal offence during the stipulated period. If he violates the order, strict punishment will be given to him. Virendra has to visit the office of Aligarh’s District Probation Officer every month for one year. Court has also directed the district probation officer to regularly submit report on Virendra's conduct,” said Pal. According to the prosecution, the case dated back to June, 1985 when one Vijay Kumar had lodged an FIR against four persons, including Virendra, alleging that they took Rs 6,250 from him with the promise to return double the amount. However, they did not give the money back. The case was filed at the Banna Devi police station. The three other accused are Mumtaz Ali Khan, Pran Pal Gupta and Kishan Kumar alias Pappu – all residents of Aligarh. Police investigated and filed chargesheet against all four persons under IPC section 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property). All four accused were out on bail. During the course of trial, Mumtaz, Pran and Kishan died. “After prosecution examined its first witness, Virendra made a statement in the court and confessed to the crime. No other prosecution witness was examined,” said Pal.
