GOPAKUMAR V.G. Vs. DEPUTY SUPERINTENDENT OF POLICE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner, accused in Vigilance Crime No.3/2023/SIU-II, challenges the order dtd. 21/10/2023 passed by the Enquiry Commissioner and Special Judge, Thiruvananthapuram in C.M.P.No.1483 of 2023. The petitioner faces charge under Sec. 7(a) of the PC Act, 1983 (Amendment 2018).

(2.) The prosecution case is as follows:- The petitioner, while, working as Secretary, Vellanadu Grama Panchayat, demanded a sum of Rs.10,000.00 from One Aswathy wife of Baiju for issuing pass for removing soil from her property. The de facto complainant lodged a statement on 23/8/2023 before the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau. The Vigilance laid a trap. The de facto complainant handed over the trap money to the petitioner. He received the same, but he could not be arrested at the spot. He fled away from the scene on seeing the vigilance team. The Vigilance team chased him in a car and arrested him from Kattakkada Junction, a place which is 18kms away from the spot where the trap money was handed over. The phenolphthalein test conducted turned negative.

(3.) The case of the petitioner is that the entire story narrated by the Vigilance is against the truth. According to the petitioner, he never demanded and accepted the money. The petitioner pleads that what actually transpired at the scene of occurrence could be ascertained by watching the CC TV footages available in the nearby shop rooms.