Judgment :

B. Sudershan Reddy, J.

Leave granted.

2. Theappellant along with Accused No.1 was tried for offences under Section 120B of IPC read with Section 7 and 13 (2) read with 13(1) (d) of Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 (hereinafter referred to as "the said Act") by Special Judge (SPE/CBI)-I, Ernakulam who by his judgment dated 30th March, 2002 convicted the appellant for the offence punishable under Section 7 read with Section 13(1) (d) and 13(2) of the said Act. He was acquitted of the charge under Section 120B of the IPC. The appellant was accordingly sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for three years and to pay a fine of Rs.20,000. In default for payment of fine the appellant was further ordered to undergo rigorous imprisonment for a further period of six months for the offence punishable under Section 13(1) read with Section 13(2) of the said Act. He was also sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for two years for the offence punishable under Section 7 of the said Act. The substantive sentences were directed to run concurrently. 3. The appellant preferred an appeal to the Kerala High Court at Ernakulam, which dismissed the appeal by its judgment dated 28th November, 2007. However, the Appellate Court reduced the substantive sentence to that of one year only. The High Court acquitted the first accused of all the charges against which State preferred no appeal. This appeal is brought, by special leave against the judgment of the High Court.

4. The prosecution case is that while accused no.1 working as the Inspector of Central Excise, Air Cargo Complex, Trivandrum, demanded an amount of Rs.1,500/-as gratification from one Dayanandhan-PW10 and Prakash Kumar-PW2, who were the Senior Assistant and Manager respectively of M/s. Interfrieght Services Pvt. Ltd., Trivandrum as a motive or reward for giving clearance for a wet grinder booked by one P. S. Shine to be sent to Dubai.

5. The appellant was also working as Inspector of Central Excise, Air Cargo Complex, Trivandrum along with Accused no. 1. On 2nd October, 1999 at about 6 a.m. the appellant is stated to have actually demanded the amount of Rs.1,500/- from Dayanandhan-PW10 as gratification for clearing the same wet grinder and accepted the bribe amount for himself and on behalf of accused no.1 and thereby committed offences under Section 7 read with Section 13(1) (d) and 13(2) of the said Act.

6. Theprosecution story as unfolded during the trial is that the appellant and Accused no. 1 together conspired and committed the act of demanding and accepting gratification.

7. In the present case, it may not be really necessary to discuss the entire evidence available on record for the simple reason that the High Court acquitted the Accused no. 1 of all the charges and found no case against him. It is the Accused no. 1 who is stated to have demanded the gratification for clearing and sending wet grinder to Dubai. The High Court as well as the trial court found that there was no criminal conspiracy between the appellant and accused no. 1 and therefore acquitted both of them of the charge under Section 120B of the IPC.

8. TheHigh Court upon re-appreciation of evidence came to the conclusion that the prosecution miserably failed to prove the charge against the appellant for the offence under Section 13 (1) (d) read with Section 13 (2) of the said Act. In this regard, the High Court found that there is nothing in the evidence of PW-11 - Natarajan, official witness, to arrive at any conclusion of appellant making any demand of gratification. PW-11 stated that from the conversation between the appellant and PW-10, he could heard the appellant asking "is it ready?" and PW-10 only nodding his head. It is for that reason the High Court recorded that the alleged demand by the appellant on 2.10.1999 is highly doubtful and is not proved beyond reasonable doubt. The High Court relied upon yet another circumstance creating a doubt as regards the demand of any gratification by t