C.R. Sarma, J.

1. The judgment and order, dated 30.08.2011, passed by the learned special Judge, West Tripura, Agartala, in Special Case No. 3/11, is in challenge in this appeal, filed by the appellant, who is the convict in the said special case. By the impugned judgment and order, the learned Sessions Judge convicted the appellant under Section 13(1)(d)(ii) (2)(sic) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 (hereinafter referred to as "the P.C. Act.") and thereby sentenced to suffer rigorous imprisonment for 3 years and pay fine of Rs. 50,000/- in default suffer simple imprisonment for another period of 3 (three) months for his said conviction.

2. Aggrieved by the said conviction and sentence, the convicted person, as appellant, has come up with this appeal.

3. I have heard Mr. M. Mukherjee, Mr. B. Mazumdar and Mr. S. Lodh, Learned Counsel, appearing for the appellant. Also heard Mr. R.C. Debnath, learned Special Public Prosecutor, appearing for the respondent'

4. The prosecution case, as revealed during the trial, may in brief, be staled as follows :--

The first informant, namely, Shri Sub-rata Pal (PW 1), an un-employed youth, in the year 1999, applied for a bank loan, under the scheme, namely, Prime Ministers Rozgar Yoyona", (hereinafter called as "the PMRY") from the Industry Department. Accordingly the said applicant appeared before the Interview Board and a loan for Rs. 42,000/- was sanctioned. As directed by the sanctioning authority, the said informant approached the Central Bank of India, Agartala Branch, seeking release of the said loan amount. Sri Shankar Biswas, (hereinafter, called the appellant')/ who was the Manager of the said Bank, at the relevant time, demanded an amount of Rs. 10,000/-as consideration towards the release of the said loan amount.

On 23.12.1999, the informant gave an amount of Rs. 5,000/- of 50 rupee denomination, The numbers of the first note and the last note of the bundle were I.C.N.-848814 and 3AB866362, respectively, and on receipt of the said amount the appellant kept the same in the drawer of his table.

Immediately after paying the amount, the informant lodged in FIR (Ext.1) with the Officer-in-Charge, Agartala Police Station, bringing the matter to his notice. After receiving the said FIR, police registered a case under Section 420 of the Indian Penal Code, (herein after referred to as "the IPC") and Sections 113 of the P.C. Act.

Mr. Bimalangshu Das, Dy. S.P. (Central) of Tripura Police, Agartala (PW 8), at about 1-45 p.m., after making a G.D. Entry of the FIR, took up the investigation and proceeded to the place of occurrence i.e. the Central Bank of India, Agartala, accompanied by the informant, the Officer-in-Charge, Inspector, Shri Rupak Chakravorty, another S.I., Shri Sunil Ch. Das and other staff. The investigating officer also took with him two independent persons, namely, Shri Dulal Debnath (PW 2) and Sri Sribash Saha (PW 3) and recovered the bundle of the 100 notes of 50 rupee denomination from the appellant.

Accordingly the Investigating Officer seized the said amount, vide Ext. No. 3, in presence of the witnesses, i.e. PW 2 and PW 3.

PW 8, who had initiated the investigation and completed the major part of the investigation. Subsequently, four other investigating officers including PW 5, PW 6 and PW 9 also conducted the investigation. PW 9, who was also one of the investigating officers, after receipt of the sanction order for prosecution, submitted the charge-sheet against the appellant.

5. The learned Special Judge framed charge under Section 13(1)(a) of the PC Act. The charge was read over and explained to the accused person to which he pleaded not guilty and claimed to be tried-

6. In order to prove its case prosecution examined, as many as, 9 (nine) witnesses.

PW 1 is the informant, PWs 2 and 3 are the seizure list witnesses, PW 4 is a Sub-Inspector of police, who made the GD Entry, PW 7 is the Dy. Manager of the Bank, at the relevant time, PWs 5, 6, 8 and 9 are the invest