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IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI

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Reserved on 16.01.2014

Date of Decision: 20.01.2014

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Crl. Appeal No.655/2010

NAWAB SINGH

..... Appellant

Through:

Mr. K.B. Andley, senior advocate

with Mr. M.L. Yadav, Advs.

versus

STATE OF DELHI

..... Respondent

Through:

Mr. Feroz Khan Ghazi, APP.

CORAM:

HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE V.K.JAIN

JUDGMENT

V.K.JAIN, J. (Oral)

A complaint to the Director (Vigilance) of Delhi Government was

made by Sangeeta Uttam, daughter of Suresh Uttam, alleging therein

that her father applied to the SDM, Kalkaji, in the year 2002, for issue of

a caste certificate, vide diary No. 768/2002. She further alleged that the

Enquiry Officer Nawab Singh verified her application and the

documents annexed thereto with the original documents and found the

same to be in order. He also made them bring the ration cards of two

neighbours, noted their names on a paper and then demanded a sum of

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Rs 500/- as bribe for writing a report. They did not have Rs 500/- with

them, but Nawab Singh took Rs 100/- from her aunt (wife of her

paternal uncle) and also asked them to send her father to meet him in the

office. Her paternal uncle then met Nawab Singh, who demanded a

bribe of Rs 500/- from him, whereupon her father made a complaint in

this regard to the SDM. However, on coming to know of the complaint,

Nawab Singh gave an unfavourable report stating therein that the

neighbours knew them only for three months and, therefore, caste

certificate could not be issued. She also alleged that Nawab Singh had

himself put the signature/thumb impression of the witnesses against

their names. She also alleged in the complaint that one of the witnesses

Smt. Usha was a literate person who puts her signature, whereas the

other witness was illiterate. An FIR under Section 7/13 of Prevention of

Corruption Act and Section 177/182/465/466 and 471 of IPC was

registered against the appellant Nawab Singh on the basis of the above-

referred complaint of Sangeeta Uttam and the case was handed over to

Anti Corruption Branch of Delhi for investigation.

2. Vide impugned judgment dated 12.05.2010 and Order on

Sentence dated 15.05.2010, the appellant was convicted under Section 7

and 13(1)(d) read with Section 13(2) of Prevention of Corruption Act,

2014:DHC:304

1988 as well as under Sections 177/468/471 of IPC. Being aggrieved

from his conviction and the sentence awarded to him, the appellant is

before this Court by way of this appeal.

3. Smt. Bhagwati Devi, paternal aunt of the complainant, came in

the witness box as PW-3 and stated that an official from SDM office

came to their residence to make an enquiry, asked her to bring ration

cards of two neighbours, noted down the particulars from the ration

cards which he brought from the neighbours and refunded the same to

her. She also provided the photocopies as required by him. He thereafter

demanded Rs 500/- from her. When she explained her inability to pay

that much amount, he demanded Rs 100/-, which she paid to him. He

then asked her to send her husband to his office. She narrated these

facts to his husband Naresh Uttam and her niece Sangeeta Uttam. The

witness, however, did not identify the appellant Nawab Singh in the

Court and expressed her inability to identify the culprit since the

incident had become 4-5 years old, by the time she was examined in the

Court. This witness, however, was not cross-examined by the appellant,

despite opportunity given in this regard. Shri Naresh Uttam is the

paternal uncle of the complainant. He also deposed that when he

complained to the SDM, he called one clerk Mr R.K. Singh and asked

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him to look into the matter. Mr R.K. Singh asked him to come again

after 15 days and told him, in the presence of the appellant Nawab

Singh, that the fee of the appellant for issue of caste certificate was Rs

500/-, but the appellant