The prosecution must prove demand and acceptance of bribe beyond reasonable doubt in corruption cases; failure to do so results in acquittal.

JUDGMENT :

Nisha M. Thakore

1. Present appeal is filed under Section 378(1)(3) of the Code of Criminal Procedure at the instance of the State challenging the impugned judgment and order dated 29.04.2010 passed by the learned Special Judge (ACB), Amreli in Special Case (ACB) No.74 of 1999. By the said judgment and order, the learned Judge has recorded the acquittal of the respondent nos. 1 and 2 – original accused for the offences punishable under Sections 7,12,(13)(1)(d) read with Section 13(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988.

2. In nutshell, the case of the prosecution before the Special Court was an offence registered being CR-I-No.12 of 1999 with the ACB Police Station, Amreli for the offences punishable under Sections 7,12,13(1)(d) read with Section 13(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, inter alia alleging that :-

2.1 The respondent no.1 – original accused no.1 was a public servant discharging his duty as the Assistant Sub Inspector with the Amreli Taluka Police Station had demanded illegal gratification initially of an amount of Rs.5,000/- from the complainant – Karshanbhai Kadavabhai Kamani, who was arrested in reference to the Chapter Case registered against him with the concerned police station. It is the case of the prosecution that after negotiation, the illegal gratification was agreed for an amount of Rs.1,000/-. The complainant was presented on the same date of registration of the chapter case i.e. on 8.7.1999 before the office of Mamlatdar and was released on bail. The amount of bribe which was agreed to be paid by the original complainant to the accused no.1 was to be paid on the same date, however, later on the complainant had promised to pay such a bribe amount.

3. Upon report of such a complaint, the trap was arranged. The panch witnesses were called for. One Dhirubhai Nanjibhai has appeared as panch witness no.1 and Devkaranbhai Lavjibhai Chavda has appeared as panch witness no.2. In their presence, the pre-trap panchnama was drawn, whereby witnesses appraised about the allegation made against the respondent no.1. The panch witnesses as well as complainant were made aware about the significance of the phenolphthalein test. Initially, the amount of Rs.1000/- was demanded by the accused no.1 as a bribe. The denomination notes were collected from the original complainant and were tainted with the phenolphthalein powder. The said tainted notes were placed inside the left pocket of the open shirt of the complainant. Necessary instructions were given to the complainant as well as the panch witnesses with regard to the manner in which the trap was to be conducted. The aforesaid details were reduced in writing in the form of panchnama. The same was signed by the panch witnesses. The raiding party had left from the ACB Police Station, Amreli to reach Rajmahel Building which is the Court compound of the Amreli Court. The panch witness no.1 had accompanied the original complainant.

3.1 As per the case of the prosecution, while the complainant and the panch witness no.1 were waiting for the accused, the accused no.1 had approached the complainant and in presence of panch witness no.1, had demanded money, to which, the complainant had responded that he had brought money. At that stage, the accused no.1 had asked the complainant to handover the amount to the person standing next wearing the black coat. As per the case of the prosecution, the accused no.1 had instructed the advocate standing next to him to accept the amount which was later on handed over by the complainant by his right hand and was placed inside the left side pocket of the advocate standing next to the accused no.1. The same was accepted by the advocate by his right hand and was placed inside the right side pocket of his coat. The signal was given to the raiding party and the panch witness no.2 along with raiding party had immediately reached the spot. The accused no.1 and the advocate who was later on arraigned as accused no.2 were arrested