JUDGMENT

Arijit Pasayat, J.

These two appeals are directed against the common judgment of the Andhra Pradesh High Court which upheld the conviction of the appellants under Sections 7, 11, and 13(1)(d) read with Section 13(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 (in short the Act) and Section 120B of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (for short the IPC).

2. Appellants T. Shankar Prasad (in Crl. A. No. 909 /1997) and Ghaiz Basha(in Crl. A. No. 910/97) (also described as A1 and A2) were working as Assistant Commercial Tax Officer and Junior Assistant respectively in the office of the Commercial Tax Department of Kanigiri, Prakasam District. Way bill were issued to the traders by the department for their day to day transactions and taxable goods to be transported were required to be covered by the way bills issued by the department. Complainant (PW-1) was a dealer in grocery articles and under the relevant sales tax statutes, a registered dealer. He applied for way bills. On 25.4.1992 he requested the accused T. Shankar Prasad to get the way bills duly stamped and signed by him. The Officer demanded Rs. 400/- as bribe in the presence of other accused. When the complainant expressed his ina