Proof of demand and acceptance of illegal gratification is essential for conviction under the Prevention of Corruption Act.

Judgment :

Ramesh Sinha, CJ.

1. This criminal appeal arises out of the judgment of conviction and order of sentence dated 20.12.2017 passed by the Special Judge (Anti-Corruption) Raipur, District Raipur (C.G.) in Special Case No.43/2015, whereby the appellant has been convicted and sentenced in following manner :-

2. Conviction is impugned on the ground that without there being any iota of evidence of demanding and accepting illegal gratification other than legal remuneration by the public servant by abusing his office, the Special Judge has convicted & sentenced the appellant as aforementioned and thereby committed illegality.

3. Case of the prosecution, in brief, is that Baijnath Netam (hereinafter referred to as "complainant") was working as a Shiksha Karmi Grade-II at Government Upper Primary School, Madanpur and was also the In-charge of the Pre-Matric Tribal Hostel. The hostel had 44 students residing in it, and their monthly stipend of Rs.28,600/- was sanctioned by the Mandal Coordinator, Gariaband. The accused / appellant demanded a bribe of Rs.10,000/- for sanctioning the stipend for January, 2013 and threatened that if the amount was not paid, he would not sanction the stipend for February, 2013. The complainant paid Rs.2,000/- immediately and promised to pay the remaining Rs.8,000/- later, to which the accused agreed. However, the complainant did not want to pay the bribe and wanted to catch the accused red-handed. Therefore, he filed a written complaint before the Superintendent of Police, Anti-Corruption Bureau, Raipur, on 22.01.2013. To verify the complaint, the complainant was instructed to record his conversation with the accused regarding the bribe demand. The complainant informed Deputy Superintendent of Police B.S. Paikra about the recorded conversation via phone. Due to the complainant's village being far from Raipur, he could not come to Raipur and instead asked DSP Paikra to meet him at Loya Poultry Farm, Bhilai Road, Gariaband, on 01.02.2013. Two gazetted officers, Shri B.R. Sahu, Sub- Divisional Officer, Janpad Panchayat, Arang, and Shri Rajendra Prasad Dubey, Assistant Engineer, Project Director, Chhattisgarh Irrigation Development Project, were appointed as panchnama witnesses after sending a letter to the Collector, Raipur. Based on the complaint submitted by the complainant, a case was registered under Section 7 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988. On 01.02.2013, a trap team was formed, consisting of DSP B.S. Paikra, Inspector B.S. Rathore, Constable Pawan Pathak, Constable Shivsharan Sahu, Havaldar Chaman Lal Sahu, and drivers Naveen Sahu and Satyanarayan Sahu. They proceeded towards office of the accused in a government vehicle.

4. The complainant met the team at Loya Poultry Farm, Bhilai Road, Gariaband. The team members, complainant, and panchnama witnesses were introduced to each other. The complainant presented a tape recorder and a written complaint, which was given to the panchnama witness