Evidence must substantiate illegal gratification claims for prosecution under the Prevention of Corruption Act.

ORDER :

A. BADHARUDEEN, J.

Accused Nos.14, 15, 16, 19, 20, 23, 24, 27 and 30 have filed this Criminal Miscellaneous Case under Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 , and the prayer in this petition is as follows:

“to quash Annexure-I Final Report and all further proceedings in C.C.No.1/2023 on the files of the Hon’ble Court of the Additional Special Sessions Judge (SPE/CBI)-III, Ernakulam arising out of FIR No.RC 02(A)/2021-CBI/ACB, Cochin.”

2. Heard the learned counsel for the petitioners as well as the learned Special Public Prosecutor for the CBI in detail. Perused the relevant documents.

3. In this matter, the prosecution alleges commission of offences punishable under  Section 12 0B r/w 409 of the Indian Penal Code (hereinafter referred to as ‘IPC’ for short) as well as under Sections 7 , 8 and 12 of the Prevention of Corruption Act (as amended in 2018) (hereinafter referred to as ‘PC (Amendment) Act, 2018’). As per the final report filed by the CBI, 122 charges specifically raised against different accused persons.

4. The specific allegation against the petitioners is as follows:

On 12.01.2021, the 14th accused conspired with the 9th accused, a customs inspector, who demanded and accepted ₹15,000, as illegal gratification to release the baggage of the 14th accused, containing contraband without confiscation or customs duty, causing loss to the Government of India and unlawful gain to the accused. Similarly, the 15th accused conspired with the 9th accused, who accepted ₹20,000 to release baggage containing contraband foreign cigarettes under the same conditions, resulting in causing loss to the Government of India and unlawful gain to him.

On 12.01.2021, the passport of the 16th accused was taken by Customs officials, and he paid ₹15,000 as a bribe to the 10th accused to get his baggage containing foreign cigarettes released without confiscation, customs duty, or penalty. Similarly, on the same day, the passport of the 19th accused was taken by Customs officials, and the 5th accused demanded a bribe of ₹15,000. The 19th accused paid ₹8,000 as a bribe to the 5th accused to get his baggage containing cosmetics, protein powder, and other items released without confiscation, customs duty, or penalty.

On 12.01.2021, the passport of the 20th accused was taken by Customs officials, who demanded a bribe of ₹25,000. He paid ₹10,000, including ₹3,000 entrusted by the 29th accused, as a bribe to accused Nos.5 and got his baggage released without it being subjected to confiscation, customs duty, or penalty. Similarly, on 11.01.2021, accused Nos. 23 and 24, whose baggage was marked with ‘X’ by Customs officials, paid ₹6,000 to the 11th accused, the head havaldar, who accepted the amount as instructed by the 2nd accused, on a demand of ₹10,000, to get their baggage released.

Similarly, on 11.01.2021, the 27th accused paid ₹5,000 as a bribe to the 12th accused to get his baggage containing cigarettes, cosmetics, protein powder, and clothes released without duty or confiscation. Likewise, the 30th accused paid ₹10,000 as a bribe to the 5th accused for the release of his contraband.

5. On summarizing the allegations against the petitioners herein, the allegation is that the petitioners had paid illegal gratification to the accused customs officials to get their contraband of cosmetics and dress materials released without being subjected to payment of customs duty or to confiscation or to adjudication.

6. The learned counsel for the petitioners, while arguing this case, though prayed for quashment of the case as against all the accused, initially, during hearing, it is brought out that as far as accused Nos.14, 15, 16, and 30 are concerned, the prosecution had collected evidence to show payment and acceptance of bribe by them. That is to say, the A14 chart paper would show that the 14th accused paid a bribe of ₹15,000 to the 9th accused for the release of contraband, which is corroborated by CCTV footage (Camera 276) and the seizure of