NAFR HIGH COURT OF CHHATTISGARH, BILASPUR Criminal Appeal No.3197 of 1999 Judgment Reserved on 13.6.2024 Judgment Delivered on 3.7.2024 Sudhakar Dhabu, aged about 65 years, son of late Shri Govind Rao Dhabu, retired Accountant from the office of Chief Medical and Health Officer, Rajnandgaon, presently residing at B/27, Kailash Nagar, Rajnandgaon, MP (now Chhattisgarh) ----- Dead, through Legal Representatives:

i. Ranjana Dhabu, D/o Late Sudhakar Dhabu, aged 47 years, R/o C-

72 Nehru Nagar, Rajnandgaon, Chhattisgarh ii. Chandrashekhar Dhabu, S/o D/o Late Sudhakar Dhabu, aged 51 years, R/o Shivanand Nagar, Sector – 1, Shrinagar, Khamtari, Raipur, Chhattisgarh iii. Jayant Dhabu, S/o D/o Late Sudhakar Dhabu, aged 44 years, R/o C-72, Nehru Nagar, Rajnandgaon, Chhattisgarh --- Appellants versus State of MP (now Chhattisgarh) through Special Police Establishment, Office of the Lokayukta --- Respondent -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

For L.Rs. of Appellant : Ms. Kajal Chandra, Advocate on behalf of Shri Malay Shrivastava, Advocate For Respondent/State : Shri Sanjeev Pandey, Deputy Advocate General -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hon'ble Shri Justice Sanjay Kumar Jaiswal

CAV Judgment

1. The present appeal filed under Section 374(2) of the Code of Criminal Procedure is directed against the judgment dated 29.10.1999 passed by the Special Judge, Rajnandgaon in Special Case No.1 of 1995, whereby the Appellant was convicted under Sections 7 and 13(1)(d) read with Section 13(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 (henceforth ‘the Act of 1988’) and sentenced as under:

2. During pendency of the appeal, the Appellant died and his legal representatives have been brought on record.

3. Case of the prosecution, in brief, is that at the relevant time the Appellant was posted as an Accountant in the office of Chief Medical and Health Officer, Rajnandgaon. Complainant R.N. Singh (PW8), who was employed at Primary Health Centre, Ambagarh Chowki, submitted a written complaint (Ex.P5) in the office of the Superintendent of Police, Special Police Establishment, Lokayukta Office, Raipur on 12.3.1992 to the effect that the Appellant had made a demand of bribe with regard to passing of his LTC Bill amounting to Rs.1,505. Earlier, the demand of the Appellant was for 20% amount, but, later, he demanded Rs.150 as bribe. He called the Complainant to his office along with the bribe money of Rs.150 on 12.3.1992 at 3 p.m. Since the Complainant did not want to give him bribe, he made the complaint (Ex.P5). The Superintendent of Police, Special Police Establishment, Lokayukta Office, Raipur forwarded the complaint (Ex.P5) to Inspector D.N. Singh (PW9) for action. D.N. Singh (PW9) called two panch witnesses, namely, A.K. Shivhare (PW3) and A.K. Verma (PW7). Both were introduced with the Complainant and the complaint (Ex.P5) was given to the panch witnesses for perusal. They verified the said complaint from the Complainant. The Complainant produced three currency notes each in the denomination of Rs.50. Numbers of those currency notes were noted. The currency notes were smeared with phenolphthalein powder. Pre-trap proceeding formalities were conducted including test of reaction of phenolphthalein powder with sodium carbonate solution and giving of a signal by the Complainant after giving bribe to the Appellant. A preliminary panchnama (E