Santosh Hegde, J.—The appellant before us was charged for the offences punishable under Sections 7, 13(2) read with Section 13(1)(d) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 before the court of Special Judge (SPE & ACB Cases), Nellore and was found guilty of the said offences by the said court which sentenced the appellant to undergo R.I. for 2 years and to pay a fine of Rs. 1,000/- for the offence punishable under Section 7 of the said Act and it also sentenced him to undergo R.I. for 2 years and to pay a fine of Rs. 1,000/- for the offence punishable under Section 13(1)(d) read with Section 13(2) of the said Act. Both the substantive sentences were however ordered to run concurrently.

2. The appeal filed by the appellant before the High Court of Andhra Pradesh at Hyderabad came to be dismissed but the High Court reduced the sentence to one year on both the counts while the sentences of fine imposed by the trial court was sustained.

3. Prosecution case briefly stated is as ­follows :

The appellant while working as Additional Public Prosecutor, Grade I (APP) at Nellore demanded a sum of Rs. 2000/- as illegal gratification on 31.7.1991 from PW-1 for effectively pursuing a criminal complaint filed under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act against one Mahiratnam Gupta. It is stated that after negotiation the appellant agreed to receive Rs. 1500/- instead of Rs. 2000/-. But PW-1 being aggrieved by such demand lodged a complaint with the Anti-Corruption Bureau pursuant to which a trap was laid. In the said trap, the appellant was caught receiving the said sum of Rs. 1500/- and the phenolphthalein test conducted pursuant to the said trap proved positive in his hand and inner lining of the shirt pocket where he had kept the amount received by him during the trap.

4. The case of the defence was that there was serious rivalry between himself and one Sethu Madhava Rao who was then APP Grade II with whom he originally worked in a common senior’s office. The said Sethu Madhava Rao entertained a grievance that the appellant had got promotion earlier to him, hence, was entertaining ill will against the appellant and it is pursuant to the said ill will in collaboration with the Superintendent of Police who also was inimically disposed towards the appellant for having refused to withdraw certain criminal cases on the recommendation made by the said Superintendent of Police, had conspired to falsely implicate the appellant through PW-1. It is also the defence case that appellant never handled the case with which PW-1 was connected hence, there was no question of the appellant demanding any bribe in that regard. The defence also challenged the genuineness of the trap and had given an explanation that PW-1 at the relevant time brought some files below which some currency notes were kept which was not known to the appellant and at that time two of his colleagues who were also APPs were present. It is stated soon after the file was handed over to the appellant by PW-1 the team which had organised the trap along with the panch witnesses came to the office of the appellant and asked the colleagues of the appellant to leave the room and recovered the money from the file. The defence admitted that the appellant’s fingers had turned positive for the phenolphthalein test which the appellant contended was because in the process of holding the file he might have touched the currency notes. In support of its case the defence examined two APPs who were allegedly present in the office of the appellant when PW-1 brought the file. The trial court rejected the defence version and relying on the prosecution evidence, including the evidence led in support of the trap convicted the appellant, as stated above, which conviction has been confirmed by the High Court. It is in this background the appellant is now before us in this appeal.

5. Shri M.N. Rao, learned senior counsel appearing for the appellant firstly submitted that the appellant’s case was t