JUDGMENT :

1. Criminal Appeal No.200 of 2008 is preferred by A2 who was the then Upper Divisional Clerk and Criminal Appeal No.202 of 2008 is preferred by A1, who was the then Junior Accounts Officer. Both were working in the office of Divisional Electrical Engineer, Operations & Constructions Division, Kamareddy. Both the appellants/A1 and A2 were convicted for the offence under Sections 7 and also under Section 13 (1) (d) punishable under Section 13 (2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 (for short “the Act of 1988”) and sentenced to undergo Rigorous Imprisonment for a period of one year under each count vide judgment in Calendar Case No.29 of 2004, dated 12.02.2008 passed by the Principal Special Judge for SPE & ACB Cases, City Civil Court, Hyderabad. Aggrieved by the same, the present appeals are filed.

2. Briefly stated, the case of the prosecution is that the defacto complainant/L.W.1 (died prior to commencement of trial) approached the ACB authorities and lodged a complaint Ex.P10 alleging that he worked as Additional Assistant Engineer and was suspended on 27.09.1997 and was later reinstated. For regularization of period of his service and for processing his pension papers, the DEE needed Last Pay Certificate and Service Book from the Divisional Office, Kamareddy. An application was filed for issuance of the Last Pay Certificate and sending Service Book to Armoor Division where he retired. The DEE directed the appellant herein to verify the records and put up the office note for issuing the Last Pay Certificate. Both the appellants verified and put up a note to DE for issuance of the said certificate, which was approved by the DEE on 03.06.2003.

3. Both the appellants allegedly demanded an amount of Rs.20,000/- for sending the file for the purpose of processing on the very same day i.e., 03.06.2003. On request, the bribe amount was reduced to Rs.6,000/-. The complainant again approached the appellants on 16.06.2003 and 17.06.2003 and pleaded to send the file for processing and informed them that he would pay the bribe later. Again on 02.07.2003 also request was made to the appellants, but unless the bribe was paid, the appellants refused to send the file.

4. Fed up with the harassment of these appellants in demanding bribe and not sending the file, written complaint was filed with the ACB on 07.07.2003 and handed over at 11.30 p.m. The said complaint, after verification was registered on 09.07.2003 at 9.00 a.m on which date, the trap was laid.

5. The First Mediator’s report Ex.P1 was drafted in the R & B guest house by the trap party at 12.10 p.m and having concluded the said proceedings at 1.20 p.m, the Trap Party left the guest house and approached the office of the Divisional Electrical Engineer, Kamareddy.

6. The DSP/Trap Laying Officer (P.W.6) directed the defacto complainant and L.W.3 (D.Sangaiah), an independent mediator to the proceedings to go into the office and follow the complainant to watch what transpired in between the complainant and the appellants. The complainant and said Sangaiah entered into the office at about 4.35 p.m and after ten minutes, the said witness Sangaiah came out of the office and waited outside the gate. At about 5.30 p.m, the complainant gave a pre-arranged signal to the trap party indicating the receipt of bribe by the appellants. Immediately, the trap party entered into the office premises and found the appellants. Sodium carbonate solution was prepared and A2 was asked to rinse his right hand fingers which turned positive. On questioning, A2 took out currency notes from his pant pocket and produced before the mediators. Panchanama/Ex.P5 was drafted and relevant documents were seized. Later, the investigation was handed over to P.W.7/Inspector. The Inspector, having concluded investigation and obtaining sanction from the relevant authorities, filed the charge sheet.

7. During the course of trial, the witnesses P.Ws.1 to 7 were examined on behalf of the prosecution and Exs.P1 to P12