Judgment

Arijit Pasayat, J.—Leave granted.

2. Refusal by the Bombay High Court, Aurangabad Bench to accept the prayer of the appellant, for suspension of sentence and to be released on bail while admitting the appeal filed by him, is questioned in this Appeal.

3. Factual background facts in a nutshell are as follows:

The appellant faced trial for alleged commission of offence punishable under Section 13(1)(e) read with Section 13(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 (in short the ‘Act’). The allegation against the appellant was that he was in possession of property worth Rs. 4,12,297/- which was disproportionate to his known sources of income. Appellant faced trial in the Court of Special Judge, Dhule in Special Case No. 77 of 1996. After considering the available materials on record, the trial court held that the accused-appellant was in possession of assets disproportionate to his known sources of income. The conclusion was arrived at after taking note of the pecuniary resources of the accused-appellant. The trial court held that the extent of the disproportionate assets amounted to Rs. 3,10,784/-. Accordingly, he was convicted for offence punishable under Section 13(1)(e) re