The absence of motive to demand or accept a bribe and the insufficiency of evidence to prove guilt beyond reasonable doubt led to the acquittal.

1. - Challenge in this appeal is to the judgment dated 27th September, 1996 whereby the Special Judge Prevention of Corruption Cases, Jaipur has acquitted the accused respondent Laduram Chahar in the offence under Section 7 and 13(1)(d)(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 (hereinafter to be referred as 'Act 1988').

2. The prosecution story is woven like this :

That on 25th March, 1992, the accused respondent Laduram was posted as Veterinary Doctor in Veterinary Hospital Malsisar. That day, he being a public servant demanded a bribe of Rs. 300/- other than his lawful remuneration from the complainant Birju Singh in lieu of releasing the health certificate of his Camel. On the complaint of decoy Birju Singh, Dy. S.R Anti Corruption Bureau, Sikar laid a trap and caught the accused respondent Laduram red handed while accepting the bribe of Rs. 300/- from the complainant Birju Singh. The Police Officer recovered the bribe amount from the possession of the accused respondent in the presence of two independent witnesses.

3. After usual investigation, the police filed a charge sheet against the accused in the offence under Sections 7 and 13(1)(d)(2) of the `Act, 1988' where the charge of this offence was read over to him who pleaded not guilty and claimed trial.

4. The prosecution has examined as many as 9 witnesses to prove its case. In the statements under Section 313 of Cr.P.C., the accused filed a written explanation which was taken on record. The accused examined two witnesses DW-1 Ram Kumar and DW-2 Mohan Lal in defence. On completion of trial the accused was acquitted for the charges as indicated hereinabove.

5. Heard the submissions advanced by the learned Public Prosecutor appearing for the State, learned counsel for the accused respondent and with their assistance scanned the material available on record.

6. The learned Public Prosecutor has assailed the impugned judgment of the trial Court on the following grounds :

(i) that the trial court has not property appreciated the evidence of the prosecution witnesses:

(ii) the demand of bribe amount of Rs. 300/- for releasing a health certificate of camel is very well proved from the statements of PW-7 Chhatrasal Singh and PW-8 Ridhkaran Kaushik. The recovery of Rs. 300/- is also proved from the possession of the accused. There is no ground of jettison or disbelieve the testimony of these two police officers as no animosity is found to have been proved between them.

(iii) The prosecution has succeeded in establishing the charge of demand of bribe and obtaining of bribe amount from the possession of ?he accused respondent, as such the impugned judgment deserves to be set aside and the accused respondents should be convicted.

7. Per contra, while drawing my attention to the statements of PW-5 Birju Singh, the learned counsel for the accused respondent has contended that the decoy Birju Singh PW-5 himself has not supported the prosecution case and has turned hostile. Neither the demand of bribe amount of Rs. 300/- nor the recovery thereof is proved from his evidence. The statements of PW-7 Chhatra Sal Singh and PW- 8 Ridhkaran Kaushik are laden with contradictions and inconsistencies. Hence, conviction cannot be based upon the evidence of these Police Officers who are interested in the success of trap. The impugned judgment of the lower Court is well merited and it calls for no interference.

8. It goes without saying that PW-5 Birju Singh is the key witness of the instant case. He has totally denied the prosecution case and thus declared hostile. With regard to the demand of bribe money, this witness has stated in examination-in-chief that it is not the accused who demanded a bribe of Rs. 300/- but it was the compounder of Veterinary Hospital who demanded this amount. He, in fact, filed a complaint against the compounder and the police instructed him to give the money to the accused forcibly who was posted as Veterinary Doctor in the Veterinary Hospital at Malsisar. PW-6 Malur