Indian Kanoon - Search engine for Indian Law

2. The facts in brief are that on the basis of the information received from the complainant Prithvi Singh to the effect that the appellant Anoop Kumar Joshi, while working as an employee of the erstwhile Delhi Electric Supply Undertaking (DESU), demanded bribe of Rs.1,000/- for rectifying the electricity bill in respect of the electricity connection installed at the house of the complainant, with further word of caution that in case of non- payment of the said amount of bribe, he would get the electricity supply disconnected at the house of the complainant, Inspector Kanwar Singh posted in Anti-Corruption Branch, along with the Government servant on duty, laid a trap for apprehending the accused red handed at the time of accepting the bribe. The investigating officer and the complainant took seven notes of the denomination of Rs.100/- each and explained it to the panch witness as well with regard to the manner in which the same were to be given to the accused. The said currency notes were treated with phenolphthalein powder and the complainant and panch witness were explained that if a person would touch those notes treated with phenolphthalein powder and the finger of such person is dipped in colourless solution of sodium carbonate, that solution would turn pink. A practical demonstration of the same was given by raiding officer and thereafter the notes were returned back to the complainant for the purpose of giving the same as bribe to the accused. The complainant, thereafter, gave the said seven currency notes to the accused who accepted the same with his left hand and then kept the notes in his right hand fist with the remarks that "Don't worry, your work is done" upon which the panch witness gave a pre-arranged signal to the members of the raiding party upon which Inspector Kanwar Singh rushed to the spot upon which he was informed that the accused had demanded a bribe of Rs.700/-. The accused is stated to have accepted the bribe money with his left hand and kept the same in his right hand fist. The said raiding officer then disclosed his identity to the accused and also offered his own search to the accused before conducting the search of the accused. Inspt.Kanwar Singh, the raiding officer then recovered the currency notes treated with phenolphthalein which upon comparison, tallied with the numbers already mentioned in pre-raid proceedings. Thereafter, solution of the sodium carbonate was prepared; washes of the hands of the accused were taken into the solution which turned pink. The solution was then poured into four different bottles and sealed. The bribe money was recovered and seized by the raiding officer; post raid report was prepared at the spot and the ruqqa was sent to anti-corruption branch. It emerges from the record that charges under Sections 7/13(1)(d) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 were framed against the accused to which he pleaded not guilty and claimed trial.

3. The appellant was held guilty by the learned Special Judge, Delhi and by an order dated 27th January, 2005, sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for a period of one year each for his conviction under Sections 7 & 13(1)(d) of the of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 and fine of Rs.5,000/- on each count and in case of default of payment of fine, to undergo further rigorous imprisonment for a period of three months.

GROUNDS OF CHALLENGE

4. The main ground of challenge is that there is no legal evidence against the appellant justifying his conviction. The next ground of challenge is that the honesty, diligence and promptness of the appellant in discharge of his official duty are clearly established from the application/complaint dated 22nd November, 1991 which was dealt with finally on the same day in favour of the complainant. The appellant had no legitimate power to comment/modify the report of M.R.I. Shri G.C. Gupta. It was alleged that the appellant was not the only person who had dealt with the case in question. It is alleged that PW 9 Mr.J.K. Lumba had deposed that he gave a favourable report on the complaint of PW 1 prior to raid and that the appellant had nothing to do after submitting of the report. The next ground of challenge is that the complainant deposed that the raiding officer recovered money from the right hand grip of the appellant whereas the panch witness deposed that the raiding officer lifted money in question from the floor. It was alleged that, therefore, relying on the substantive evidence of recovery is baseless. Challenge is also laid on the ground that there was no cogent reason for the appellant to demand Rs.1,000/- from the complainant for an act which is not within his legitimate power and control. Another ground of challenge is that in the statement of the complainant it was stated by him that nothing was added in the colourless solution prepared by the raiding officer, however, the hand of the appellant was washed and, therefore, it is beyond comprehension how water can turn into pink colour. Lastly, the ground of challenge is that in the year 1992, the Inspector, as in the present case, was not competent to investigate the corruption cases under the Prevention of Corruption Act.

with one surety of the like amount to the satisfaction of the trial court.

9. Upon hearing the rival contentions of the parties at length, evidence led is being examined.

(I) PW 1 Prithvi Singh in his testimony deposed that he was holding domestic connection of electricity in his house since before 1992 and that in the month of September, 1991, a commercial bill of more than 9,000/- was received by him from DESU. This witness deposed that with regard to the above bill, he visited DESU office for the purpose of rectification of the bill from commercial to domestic connection. Mr.Anoop Kumar Joshi, the accused herein, recorded his application and sent an Inspector for verification to his house wherein the inspector submitted a report stating that no commercial connection was there in the house. Upon meeting the accused a couple of times with regard to correction of bill, the said accused demanded a bribe of Rs.1,000/- which was later on reduced to Rs.700/-. This witness further stated that he was called by the accused on 19th May 1992 along with the stated amount for the purpose of rectifying the said bill. It was further stated by this witness that thereafter on 19th May, 1992, he lodged his complaint Exh.PW 1/A at A.C. Branch in the presence of panch witness and handed over Rs.700/- to Inspector Kamal Singh, the numbers of which were noted down and a powder was applied to the said notes. Thereafter, this witness was briefed about the trap of the raiding party to the effect that when the accused would touch the said notes and thereafter his hands would be dipped in colourless solution, the same would turn pink meaning thereby the accused had accepted the said bribe notes. This witness further deposed that money was returned to him by the Inspector and he was instructed to keep close to the panch witness so that he could hear the conversation and watch transactions; give signal by moving his hand over his head when the money was accepted by the accused. It was further stated by this witness that he along with the raiding party reached the spot where the accused was found sitting in a room. Thereafter the accused came out and told this witness that his work has been done and demanded Rs.700/-. It is stated that the accused accepted the said money in left hand and transferred the same to his right hand. The said witness thereafter gave pre-arranged signal upon which the raiding party came and Inspector Kanwal Singh recovered the money which when compared, tallied with the numbers detailed in pre-raiding report. The said GC notes were seized vide seizure memo Exh.PW 1-B which bears the signatures of this witness at point 'A'. Thereafter, the hands of the accused were dipped in sodium carbonate solution which turned pink and the wash of the left hand Exh.P 1 & P 2 and right hand Exh.P 3 & P 4 were transferred into two bottles separately which were sealed. This witness stated that one paper of note sheet Exh.P-5 and copy of eleven bills Exh.P 6 to P 16 were taken into possession vide memo Exh.PW 1/D. It is stated that the accused was arrested vide personal search memo Exh.PW 1/E which bears his signatures at point 'A'.

(XII) PW 13 Shri Kanwar Singh in his statement deposed that on 19th May, 1992, while working as ACP in Anti Corruption Branch, PW 1 Prithvi Singh, the complainant visited the police station when PW 11 Kalyan Singh was also there, and lodged a report Exh.PW 1/A with this witness which was after submission signed by PW 1 at point 'A'. This witness further stated that PW 1 Prithvi Singh then handed over to him seven currency notes of Rs.100/- denomination each in the presence of panch witness. The numbers of these currency notes were mentioned by this witness in the pre- raid report. All the proceedings conducted in ACB office were recorded in pre-raid report which is marked as Exh.PW 1/F. A raiding party was organized by him which reached the spot and PW 1 and the complainant were directed to take position. The details thereof were recorded in Exh.PW 13/A. On receiving the signal, he along with the raiding party reached the gallery of the second floor near the stair case where the accused Anoop Kumar Joshi, was apprehended. On the pointing out by PW 1 Prithvi Singh about demanding and accepting bribe of Rs.700/-, the accused was challenged of his demanding and accepting bribe. Search of the accused was conducted in which seven currency notes of Rs.100/- each were recovered from his right hand fist. He verified the currency note numbers with the pre-raid report; seized the same as Exh.P-17 to P-23 vide memo Exh.PW 1/B. Thereafter he obtained the hand wash of the left and right hand of the accused by putting the same in colourless solution of sodium carbonate and on dipping the left hand of the accused, it turned into pink colour and the said solution was filled in two separate clean bottles marked as LHW-I & LHW-II. Similarly, the right hand wash was marked as RHW-I & RHW-II. PW 13 further stated that he recorded the post raid proceedings as Exh.PW 1/G and endorsed as Exh.PW 13/B which was later on handed to Constable Kuldeep Singh who took the same to the police station and the case was registered. The investigation was then marked to Inspector Balwan Singh to whom he handed over the custody of the accused Anoop Kumar Joshi along with copy of ruqqa, original memos and the seized articles i.e. seven currency notes, four bottles of handwash and sample seal.