Judgment

SUBBA RAO, J. : This appeal by special leave is preferred against the Judgment of the High Court of Kerala confirming that of the Special Judge, Trivandrum, convicting the accused under S. 5(2), read with S.5(1) (d) of the Prevention of Corruption Act (II of 1947), hereafter called the Act, and sentencing him to pay a fine of Rs. 1,000/-, or in default to undergo simple imprisonment for four months.

2. The appellant was a special Revenue Inspector for land assignment at Manantoddy in Wynad Taluk in the old Malabar district.

3. The case of the prosecution was that he, by abusing his position as a public servant, got 4 acres and 80 cents of Government land in R. S. No. 376/2 of Tavinhal village assigned in the name of his brother-in-law P. K. Copinathan Nambair without revealing the fact that he was his brother-in-law and by making false entries in the relevant records showing that the said land contained only 97 trees valued at Rs. 165/-, whereas the land had actually 150 trees worth Rs. 1450/-. The suppression of the fact that the assignee was his brother-in-law and the under-estimate of the value of the land were dishonestly made to circumvent the rules governing the assign