To establish corruption under the Prevention of Corruption Act, intentional wrongdoing must be proved beyond negligence, with the court emphasizing the necessity for a prima facie case based on expert testimony regarding construction adequacy.

ORDER :

1. Crl.Rev.Pet. No.1081/2024 has been filed under Sections 438 and 442 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023, by accused Nos.1 and 2 in C.C. No.20/2016 on the files of the Court of the Enquiry Commissioner and Special Judge, Kottayam, challenging the common order dated 27.06.2024 in Crl.M.P. No.388/2020 in the above case, whereby the discharge plea at the instance of accused Nos.1 and 2 was dismissed by the learned Special Judge.

2. The 3^rd accused, who is aggrieved by dismissal of his discharge petition vide order dated 27.06.2025 in Crl.M.P. No.90/2021 in the above case has filed Crl.Rev.Pet. No.974/2024, challenging the said order.

3. Heard the respective counsel for the revision petitioners as well as the learned Public Prosecutor, in detail. Perused the order impugned, relevant records as well as the decision placed.

4. Parties in these criminal revision petitions shall be referred as ‘accused Nos.1, 2 and 3’ and ‘prosecution’ hereafter.

5. In this matter, the prosecution case is that, the 1^st accused, while working as Assistant Engineer attached to Kanjirappally Grama Panchayat and the 2^nd accused, who was Executive Engineer of the Kanjirappally Block Panchayath, and as such public servants criminally conspired with the 3^rd accused, who was the contractor, for the construction of a pavilion at Petta Government High School, Kanjirappally and accused Nos.1 and 2 with dishonest and fraudulent intention of making undue pecuniary advantage did not construct the said pavilion according to the specification in the plan and estimate and constructed foundation pillars by using lesser number of iron bars in the pillars than what is required and thereafter fraudulently and dishonestly recorded incorrect measurements in the M-Book to make it appear that the work was carried on in accordance with the specification and prepared the bill and sanctioned payment causing loss of Rs.42,703/-. Due to the deficient and unscientific construction, the anchorage of the foundation of the pavilion sustained defects as a result of which the structure collapsed on 15.06.2014, thereby causing loss of Rs.10,34,583/-. It is alleged that accused conjointly with ulterior intention of obtaining pecuniary gain conspired together and fraudulently and dishonestly misappropriated the Government fund for the construction work. Thereby, they derived undue pecuniary advantage for themselves during the period from 11-3-2012 to 15-6-2014 and committed criminal misappropriation, cheating, falsification of accounts, criminal conspiracy and criminal misconduct. On this premise, the prosecution alleges commission of offences punishable under Sections 13 (1)(c) and 13(1)(d) read with 13(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 [hereinafter referred as ‘P.C. Act’, for short] as well as under Sections 409, 465, 468, 471 and 120B of Indian Penal Code.

6. While seeking discharge by setting aside the common order impugned, it is submitted by the learned counsel for accused Nos.1 and 2 that, as per the statements given by CWs 4, 5, 7 and 8, the reason for collapse of the pavilion, which was constructed during 2013, was stated as ‘cyclonic wind’. It is also pointed out by the learned counsel for accused Nos.1 and 2 that, CW14, who initially inspected the site, filed Ext.F report, supporting the case of the accused and reported that, collapse of the pavilion was due to strong cyclonic wind. The learned counsel pointed out further that, even though as per the M-book, 448 kilogram of iron bars were meant for constructing the pavilion, in page No.16 of Ext.B, the claim towards iron bars was limited to 160 kilogram and payment for the said amount was effected. Therefore, there is no pec