THE HONOURABLE SRI JUSTICE J. SREENIVAS RAO + CRIMINAL APPEAL No.533 OF 2007 % Dated 18.09.2025 # R. Mahender S/o.Mallaiah Aged: about 48 years, Government servant, R/o.H.No.11-29-237, Bank Colony Deshaipet Road, Warangal District.

….Appellant VERSUS $ State of A.P.

ACB, Rep. by its Special Public Prosecutor … Respondent ! Counsel for Appellant : Ms.P. Naga Deepika ^ Counsel for Respondent : Mr. T. Bala Mohan Reddy < GIST:

> HEAD NOTE:

? CITATIONS:

1. AIR 1954 SC 15

2. SLP (Crl.) No.11212 of 2022

3. 2023 LawSuit (SC) 287

4. (2023) 4 SCC 731

5. (2020) 2 SCC 8

6. (2015) 3 SCC 220 7. (2021) 3 SCC 687

8. (2015) 10 SCC 152 THE HONOURABLE SRI JUSTICE J. SREENIVAS RAO CRIMINAL APPEAL No. 533 of 2007

ORDER:

This criminal appeal has been filed under Section

374(2) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (for short, ‘the Cr.P.C.’) by the appellant/Accused Officer aggrieved by the judgment dated 09.04.2007 passed in C.C.No.7 of 2002 on the file of the Principal Special Judge for ACB Cases at Hyderabad, whereby he was convicted for the offence under Section 7 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 (for short, ‘the Act’) and sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for one year and to pay fine of Rs.2,000/-, in default of payment of fine, he shall undergo simple imprisonment for one month and further sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for one year and to pay fine of Rs.2,000/-, in default of payment of fine, he shall undergo simple imprisonment for one month under Section

13(2) read with 13(1)(d) of the Act.

2. The case of the prosecution in nutshell :

2.1. The de facto complainant is native of Thattupally Village, Korvi Mandal, Warangal District, was worked as the Chairperson of the School Education Committee of the said village. During the year 1998–99, under the District Primary Education Programme (DPEP), he was entrusted with the work of construction of a school building for a sanctioned amount of Rs.1,70,000/-. PW.1 undertook the construction and during its progress, he received part payments i.e., Rs.85,000/- on 23.01.1999 and Rs.59,500/- on 20.03.1999, aggregating to Rs.1,44,500/-. Though the construction of the school building was completed by the end of November 1999, the final bill for the balance amount of Rs.25,500/- was not released. PW.4-Site Engineer of Korvi Mandal inspected the work executed by PW.1 and certified about completion of school building. When PW.1 approached PW.4 for the release of the pending amount, PW.4 stated to have informed him that the appellant- Accused Officer, who was a Government servant at the relevant point of time, had demanded a sum of Rs.4,000/- as illegal gratification for recommending and facilitating the issue of the final cheque towards the balance payment. It was also conveyed that unless the bribe was paid, the measurement book would not be forwarded and the final bill would not be processed. Basing upon the complaint of PW.1, Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) registered the case and laid a trap. The trap was initially proposed to be conducted at the residence of the appellant, but it was later carried out at Mahabubabad at the insistence of PW.1 and to prevent leakage of the operation. During the trap proceedings, the appellant was allegedly found in possession of Rs.4,000/- of tainted currency notes and upon chemical test, gave positive result for phenolphthalein. Post-trap proceedings were duly recorded. The prosecution thereafter filed a charge-sheet before the Special Judge for SPE & ACB Cases, City Civil Court, Hyderabad, against the appellant for the offences punishable under Sections 7 and 13(1)(d) read with 13(2) of the Act and the same was taken cognizance and numbered as C.C.No.7 of 2002.

2.2. During the course of trial, the complainant-PW.1, mediator PW.2, Trap Laying Officer PW.8, and other official witnesses were examined. The defence sought to rely on certain documents, including Ex.P-25 representation of the appellant and also examined DW.3 and DW.4 in support of its version that