T P BASAVARAJU Vs. CENTRAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This appeal is by the accused who has been convicted in respect of the offences punishable under Sections 7 and 13(1)(d) r/w 13(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 and sentenced to 3 years R.I. and Rs. 25,000/- fine in respect of the offence under Section 7 of the P.C. Act and similar sentence in respect of the other two offences as well. The case of the prosecution as per the complaint lodged by the complainant Mueen Farooq (PW-4) is that the complainant being the proprietor of M/s. Ambassador Garments, approached the accused who at the relevant time was the P.R.O. and the complainant wanted to know the formalities to be followed for getting the IEC code. Any person who intends to do import or export business has to obtain the IEC code from the office of the Joint Director General of Foreign Trade (JDGFT), which is situated at Kendriya Sadan, Koramangala, Bangalore. The accused said to have demanded Rs. 500/- as the advance amount to explain the formalities and to get the IEC code allotted within 3 or 4 days. It is the further case of the complainant that after having met the accused on 15.06.01 as aforesaid, he again went and met the accused on 18.06.01 at 11.30 a.m., accompanied by the Manager of the Ambassador Garments namely Ravi Joseph and as the accused at that time also said to have been demanded Rs. 1,000/- as bribe, so that the accused would take all necessary steps for getting the IEC code allotted in 2 or 3 days to the complainant.

(2.) The aforesaid complaint (Ex.P7) was lodged on 19.06.01 and was received by the learned JMFC on 25.06.01. It is also the prosecution case that on the very same day of lodging of the complaint i.e., on 19.06.01, the conversation that took place between the complainant and the accused was also recorded in a Micro cassette Recorder ('cassette' for short). Thereafter, Ravi Joseph mentioned above contacted the accused over phone from the CBI office and then, the accused told Ravi Joseph to come with the application at around 12.30 p.m. The entrustment mahazar was drawn on 26.06.01 at about 10.30 a.m. as per Ex. P1. Thereafter, the complainant (PW-4), the shadow witness (PW-1) and Ravi Joseph went to the office of the accused accompanied by the panch witness as well. It is the prosecution case that the accused demanded and accepted Rs. 1,000/- from the complainant and the money was recovered from the accused and the hand wash of the accused also tested positive. The trap mahazar was drawn as per Ex. P2. On completion of investigation, the charge sheet was submitted against the accused in respect of the offences first above mentioned.

(3.) In order to bring home the guilt of the accused, the prosecution examined PWs 1 to 8 and got marked 19 documents along with 12 M.Os. On the side of the accused, Exs.D1 to D5 were marked. Accused led no defence evidence.