JUDGMENT

The appellant who at the relevant time was working as an Executive Engineer has been tried and found guilty under S. 161 of the IPC, and S.5(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act read with S. 5(1)(d) thereof. The trial court convicted the appellant for the said offences and sentenced him to undergo imprisonment for one year under each count and the sentences were directed to run concurrently. He was further sentenced to pay a fine of Rs. 500/- in default to suffer simple imprisonment for one month. The convicted accused preferred an appeal before the High Court which was dismissed. However, the sentence of imprisonment has been reduced to six months R.I. Hence, the present appeal pursuant to the special leave granted.

2. Before the courts below, two main contentions were put forward. Firstly, there was no valid sanction and, secondly, that PW-1 who is the complainant in the case, cannot be relied upon at any rate since there is no other independent evidence which corroborates his version and lends the necessary accurance. In this appeal, the point regarding the validity of the sanction has not been urged. Mr. Kapil Sibal, learned senior counsel, however, submits that in a c