JUDGMENT

1. Challenge in this Criminal Appeal is to the judgment in C.C.No.10 of 2004, dtd. 19/2/2007, on the file of Special Judge for SPE and ACB Cases, Vijayawada ("Special Judge" for short), by the unsuccessful State, represented by the Inspector of Police, Anti-Corruption Bureau ("A.C.B." in short), Vijayawada Range, Guntur.

2. The parties to this Criminal Appeal will hereinafter be referred to as described before the learned Special Judge for the sake of convenience.

3. The State, represented by the Inspector of Police, ACB, Vijayawada Range, Guntur, filed charge sheet pertaining to Crime No.9/ACB-VJA/2002 of ACB, Vijayawada Range, Guntur, alleging the offences under Ss. 7 and 13(2) r/w 13(1)(d) of Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 ("P.C. Act" for short) against Accused Officer ("A.O." for short).

4. The case of the prosecution, in brief, as set out in the charge sheet as above, is as follows:

(i) The A.O. was working as Tap Inspector, Municipal Corporation, Guntur, Guntur District from 19/2/1998 to 29/4/2002. He is a public servant within the meaning of Sec. 2(c) of the P.C. Act.

(ii) One Chakka Janardhana Rao, S/o Venkateswarlu (P.W.1) is having a house in Srinivasarapet in