Judgement

HEGDE, J. : The two appellants were convicted by the High Court of Rajasthan under Ss. 120-B and 161, IPC, and under Ss. 5 (1) (a) and 5 (1) (d) read with S. 5 (2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act. They have come up in appeal to this court by special leave.

2. The first appellant was a havaldar and the second appellant a Subedar in the Rajasthan Armed Constabulary. At the relevant point of time they were serving in the outpost at Sajan-ka-Par in Barmer district of Rajasthan State, which was a border outpost. That post was within two miles from the Pakistan border. The prosecution case is that the two appellants conspired to extort money as well as other valuable things from the villagers by using force or threat of force or by harassment. Though they were indulging in these activities for quite some time, the matter came to a head when they tried to compel PW 1 Mohammad to give them Rs. 100. It was said that about the middle of September 1962, the first appellant came to the field of Mohammad and took him to the outpost saying that the second appellant wanted him to go over there. At the outpost the second appellant told him that he was constantly visiting Pakistan; he w