Judgement

HEGDE, J. :- The appellants in this appeal are two police officers. The first appellant Bhanuprasad Hariprasad Dave was the police Sub-Inspector and the second appellant, Rajuji Gambhirji, was his writer constable in February 1963. At that time both of them were attached to the Navrangpura police station, Ahmedabad. They were tried and convicted by the Special Judge, Ahmedabad, for offences under S.161 read with S.165-A of the Indian Penal Code and S.5(1)(d) read with S.5(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act (No.2 of 1947), and for those offences each of them was sentenced to suffer rigorous imprisonment for two and half years and a fine of Rs. 1,000 in default to suffer further rigorous imprisonment for one year. The judgment of the learned Special Judge was affirmed by the High Court of Gujarat. It is against that judgment, this appeal has been filed, after obtaining special leave from this Court.

2. To state briefly, the prosecution case is as follows: Ramanlal, the complainant in this case, wrote a postcard on February 11, 1963 to one Madhukanta, a lady teacher, requesting her to ask Chandrakanta, another lady teacher working with her, to meet him in connection with c