The main legal point established in the judgment is the importance of prima facie evidence, the doctrine of clean hands, and the need for evaluation of evidence during the trial in criminal proceedings.

I. S. MEHTA, J.

1. Instant is a petition invoking Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure for quashing of entire proceeding pending in case FIR/RC No. RC.AC 3/2003/A/0002/CBI/ACU-III/New Delhi under Sections 7, 8, and Section 13(1)(d) Read With Section 13(2) of Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 and Section 120-B of Indian Penal Code on the ground of lack of evidence.

2. Brief facts stated are that on the basis of source information the FIR/RC No. RC.AC 3/2003/A0002 was registered on 26.03.2003 with CBI/ACU-III, New Delhi wherein it was alleged that Subhash Sharma, Vice Chairman DDA, Anand Mohan Saran, Commissioner (Land Disposal) DDA, Vijay Risbud, Commissioner (Planning) DDA and Jagdish Chander, Director (Lands) DDA while functioning in official capacity entered into a criminal conspiracy with Dharambir Khattar, Ajay Khanna and Ravinder Taneja to show undue favor to M/s DLF Universal Ltd. in the matter of allowing Floor Area Ratio (FAR) of 300 in place of 139 in one of DLF's project on plot No. 1-E, Jhandewalan by charging rates much below the prevailing market rates and obtained or agreed to obtain illegal gratification from M/s DLF Universal Ltd., as quid pro quo. The bribe amount agreed to accept was Rs. 1.10 crores, out of which Sh. Subhash Sharma was to receive Rs. 50 lacs. Dharam Bir Khattar on the initiation of Subhash Sharma negotiated with Ajay Khanna who agreed to pay an illegal gratification of Rs 1.10 Crore to Dharam Bir Khattar which was to be shared by him and the above named officers of DDA. Subhash Sharma was to receive Rs. 50 Lakhs out of the said amount and the remaining amount was to be shared among Anand Mohan Saran, Jagdish Chander and Dharam Bir Khattar for getting this proposal cleared from the planning Department of DDA, Vijay Risbud was to be separately gratified. To facilitate the said deal Sh. Subhash Sharma was to hold a meeting in his office on 4th March 2003 which was postponed by him on the suggestion of Anand Mohan Saran and Dharam Bir Khattar, since a part of illegal gratification which was agreed to be paid by DLF in advance had not been delivered by them. The meeting was again fixed for the morning of 10th March 2003 which subsequently got postponed for same reason, after several attempts the meeting was finally held on 17th March 2003 only after half of the bribe amount had been delivered by Ajay Khanna of DLF at 9 Kasturba Gandhi Marg. Since there was a feeling of mutual distrust between Dharam Bir Khattar and Ajay Khanna, two more person namely G.R. Gogia and Ravinder Taneja were involved and played a crucial role in keeping safe and to deliver the balance amount and ensured that both parties stick to their commitments.

3. On basis of the source information, the Special Unit CBI had mounted electronic surveillance after obtaining authorization from competent authorities in regard of phone numbers 9810258734, 20050871, 24311053, 56008085, 56000067, 55655561, 56028644 of Dharambir Khattar and his family members and 8 other phone numbers, on information that Dharambir Khattar was maintaining close relations with senior government officials and was acting as a conduit between them and private parties for getting their work done and jeopardizing national security and public interest.

4. In pursuance to the authorization, the concerned telephone companies provided parallel connectivity or leased lines to the CBI. These leased lines did not have any numbers, but were identified by pairs and color of the wires. These leased lines were connected directly with the identified hard drive of a computer through a voice logger. Every incoming and outgoing call of the monitored telephone numbers were automatically recorded on .WAV(sound format) file in the hard drive of the computers giving complete details viz., call time, call duration, calling party's telephone number through windows