GOPAL PRASAD SINHA vs STATE OF BIHAR

The Supreme Court addressed the applicability of issue-estoppel under Section 409 IPC in the context of a criminal breach of trust case. The Court held that for issue-estoppel to apply, the same issue of fact and law must have been determined in a previous proceeding, which was not the case here as the appellant was never officially appointed as a cashier but acted as a temporary senior accounts clerk. Therefore, the Court concluded that the rule of issue-estoppel does not apply, and the conviction was upheld.