JUDGMENT

VIKRAMAJIT SEN, J.

1. The Respondent herein, No. 7773409X Havildar (Military Police) Purushottam, was enrolled in the Corps of Military Police, on 7th June 1983. On 27th November 2001, while the Respondent was posted to 916 Provost Unit (General Reserve Engineer Force, or GREF), he was detailed as a member of Mobile Squad and was tasked to carry out checks of various Gref detachments located on the Udhampur-Srinagar highway. On completion of duty, the Squad Commander reported the following activities of the Respondent: a) He had demanded Rs. 15000 from the Commander 367 RM Platoon (Kanbal) against surplus construction stores held with the platoon; b) he had taken 100 litres of HSD (high speed diesel) with barrel from Superintendent BR-I HL Meena of 367 Platoon, Gund Detachment and thereafter had sold it along with the barrel to a civilian for Rs.1800/-, and this allegation was levelled by the driver of the vehicle in which he was traveling; c) He had extorted Rs.6000/-from Superintendent BR-II Sanjay Kumar, 385 RM Platoon, for not reporting surplus construction material held by the platoon; d) He had taken one coat/parkha along with two steel hammers from QM, at 118 RCC (