In a case arising under the provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act, the prosecution mainly has to prove the demand, acceptance, and whether any official favor is pending with the accused officer.

JUDGMENT :

C. Praveen Kumar, J.

1. Heard Sri. S.M. Subhani, on behalf of Smt. Manchikala Renuka, Standing Counsel for the Anti-Corruption Bureau representing the State and Sri. Ch Dhanamjaya, learned Counsel on behalf of the Respondent/Accused Officer. This Criminal Appeal is disposed of through BlueJeans video conferencing app.

2. Assailing the Judgment of Acquittal, dated 10.02.2006, in C.C. No. 6 of 2002 on the file of the Special Judge for SPE & ACB Cases, Vijayawada, wherein, the Respondent/Accused Officer who was tried for offences punishable under Sections 7 and 13(2) read with 13(1)(d) of Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, was acquitted, the present Appeal came to be filed by State represented by A.C.B., under Section 378 (1) & (3) of Cr.P.C.

3. The facts, in issue, are as under:-

(i) The Accused Officer was working as Village Administrative Officer [Nominee], Guravaigudem, West Godavari District, from 01.10.1999 to 01.07.2000. PW1 who is a native of Ramachandrapuram Village, Jangareddigudem Mandal, purchased Ac. 0.70 cents of land from PW2, in his name, under Possessory Agreement. PW1 is said to have applied for issuance of pattadar passbook, for the said land, so as to get released the loan from Co-operative Bank.

(ii) It is the case of the prosecution that, PW1 approached the Accused Officer along with PW2 for issuance of pattadar passbook in the name of his wife for Ac.1.00 cents of land and in the name of PW2 to an extent of Ac.0.70 cents by making a claim along with necessary documents.

(iii) It is said that, PW1 and PW2 approached the Accused Officer number of times, but, to no avail. Later, the Accused Officer demanded an amount of Rs. 400/- from PW1 and Rs. 1,500/- from PW2 as bribe. When PW1 and PW2 expressed their inability to pay the amounts, the Accused Officer seems to have told them that passbooks will not be issued unless bribe amount is paid. However, on a later date, i.e., 29.06.2000, the Accused Officer is said to have reduced the bribe amount to Rs. 300/- and Rs. 1,200/-, respectively, and further instructed PW1 to pay the amount within a period of two days, after collecting from PW2.

(iv) As PW1 was not willing to pay the bribe amount, he lodged a report with Dy. S.P., A.C.B., Eluru [PW10]. Ex.P14 is the written report of PW1, dated 29.06.2000. After verifying the credentials of both PW1 and Accused Officer, on 30.06.2000 at about 9.00 p.m. PW10 obtained oral permission from the Director General A.C.B., for registering a case and to lay a trap against Accused Officer. Thereafter PW10 received the report from the Inspector with regard to the verification done and basing on which, he registered a case in Crime No. 3/ACB-RCT-EWG/2000 under Section 7 of the P.C. Act, at 10.30 p.m. Ex.P15 is the original First Information Report.

(v) On 01.07.2000, PW7 and another person Raja Sairam of Irrigation Circle, Eluru, reported before PW10 to act as mediators. They were introduced to his staff and vice-versa. Thereafter, PW10 called PW1 and PW2 and introduced them to mediators. PW10 gave a copy of the First Information Report to mediators and requested them to verify the contents of the report and ascertain the genuineness of the complaint from PW1. PW1 confirmed the contents of his report as true and correct. Thereafter, PW1 produced the currency notes, which were to be given as bribe. On the instructions of PW10, the mediators verified the serial numbers of the notes and recorded the same in pre-trap proceedings. Thereafter, a Constable applied phenolphthalein powder to the currency notes, made them into a wad and kept them in the empty left side pocket of PW1. Then, the Constable prepared sodium carbonate solution and when he rinsed both his hands, the sodium carbonate solution turned pink in colour. The significance of phenolphthalein test was informed to PW1 and PW2. At the time of keeping the amount in the shirt pocket of PW1, he was informed that he should not touch the hands to his shirt pocket, and only on dem