Digitally signed by AMIT PATEL

2026:CGHC:3316 The date when The date when the The date when the the judgment is judgment is judgment is uploaded on reserved pronounced the website Operative Full

31.10.2025 20.01.2026 -- 20.01.2026 AFR HIGH COURT OF CHHATTISGARH AT BILASPUR CRA No. 694 of 2012 Jitendra Sahu, S/o R.P. Sahu, Aged About 50 Years Head Constable at Present Post Police Station- Farashgaon Kondagaon, District- Kondagaon, Chhattisgarh … Appellant versus State of Chhattisgarh, through- Special Police Establishment, LoKayukta Office Jagdalpur, District – Bastar, Chhattisgarh --- State/Respondent ___________________________________________________________

For Appellant : Mr. Rahil Arun Kochar and Mr. Leekesh Kumar, Advocates.

For State : Ms. Nandkumari Kashyap, PL _____________________________________________________________

Hon'ble Smt. Justice Rajani Dubey C A V Judgement

1. This appeal is preferred under Section 374 (2) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 against the judgment dated 30.07.2012 passed by learned Special Judge (Prevention of Corruption Act) Jagdalpur (C.G.) in Special Criminal Case No. 01/2007 whereby the appellant has been convicted for the offence punishable under Section 7, 13 (1) read with Section 13(2) of Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, (for short, “the Act, 1988”) whereby the learned trial Court has sentenced the appellant in the following manner with a direction to run both sentences concurrently:

2. The case of the prosecution, as unfolded from the impugned judgment and the records of the case are that the complainant- Madhav Mandal owns a shop in Farasgaon namely Kirti Automobile, where he operates the business of buying and selling of Yamaha motorcycles. On 01.09.2005, complainant- Madhav Mandal appeared before a Anti- Corruption Bureau Office, at Jagdalpur and submitted a written complaint stating that Shivlal Markam, a resident of Farasgaon, had purchased a Yamaha motorcycle from his shop six to seven months earlier in installments. After the installments were paid, the vehicle documents were returned to him, however, servicing fee of ₹250 remained outstanding. On 04.08.2005, when his younger brother namely Chandra Prakash Mandal demanded the servicing amount from Shivlal Markam in his absence, a dispute arose between them, which was reported by both parties to Police Station- Farasgaon. Subsequently, on 31.08.2005, a compromise was reached between the parties after a cordial discussion. However, even after that, Head Constable Jitendra Sahu came to his shop and told him that a case under the Atrocities Act had been filed against him based on Shivlal's report and that the matter would be settled if he paid one thousand rupees. To verify the veracity of complainant's complaint, a Crime No. 0/2005 was registered, and a small tape recorder with a blank cassette was given to the complainant with the instruction to record his conversation with the accused and return the cassette. Then, on 01.09.2005, he went to Farasgaon and taped the conversation with the accused regarding the bribe and on 02.09.2005 came to the Anti- Corruption Bureau Office, Jagdalpur and returned the cassette. A script was prepared on the basis of the cassette, and the cassette was seized and on the said date, Crime No. 0/2005 was registered for offence under Section 7 of the Prevention of Corruption Act and the matter was investigated. Panch witnesses namely R.R. Thakur, Block Education Officer, Jagdalpur and Umesh Chandra Lal Srivastava, Sub-Divisional Public Relations Officer, Jagdalpur, were summoned from the Collector's office for the trap proceedings and were introduced to the complainant- Madhav Mandal. After reading the complaint dated 02.09.2025 and questioning the complainant- Madhav Mandal, regarding the complaint, the said witnesses made a note and signed the complaint after being satisfied. The complainant produced 10 currency notes of Rs. 100 denomination which were tainted with phenolphthalein powder by Consta