SAVJIBHAI KOYABHAI PATEL Vs. STATE OF GUJARAT

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The present Appeal has been filed by the appellant under Section 374(2) of the Criminal Procedure Code, 1973 against the judgment and order of conviction dated 31.12.1999 passed by learned Special Judge, Court No. 2, Ahmedabad in Special (A.C.B.) Case No. 60 of 1996, whereby the appellant-accused was convicted of the charge for offence punishable under Section 7 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 (hereinafter referred to as "the Act" for short) and sentenced to undergo simple imprisonment for six months with fine of Rs. 250/- and in default, to further undergo simple imprisonment of one month and also the appellant-accused was also convicted for offence under Section 13 (2) read with Section 13(1)(d) of the Act and sentenced to undergo simple imprisonment for 18 months with fine of Rs. 250/- and in default, to further undergo simple imprisonment for one month. The sentences were ordered to run concurrently.

(2.) The brief facts of the prosecution case are that the complainant Mr. H.A. Pathan, P.I., A.C.B., Ahmedabad City gave complaint on 8.5.1996 on behalf of the State Government that he has certain information about the acceptance of illegal gratification by traffic police, local police, traffic mobile police and employees of octroi naka, Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation from the trucks on one pretext or other. The said illegal bribe amount is demanded and accepted for not doing the legal proceeding against such truck drivers. To confirm the information and to do legal proceeding, 2 Government employees were called at the A.C.B. Office to work as panchas to whom the aforesaid information was conveyed and in furtherance, preliminary panchnama was drawn in between 15.00 hrs to 15.15 hrs. at the A.C.B. Office. Thereafter, raiding party members alongwith P.I. Went in the government jeep on national highway No. 8 and reached Pavan Vaishnav Bhojnalaya on Valad-Himatnagar road and stopped one truck bearing No. HYG 567 at 16.00 hrs. which was coming from Himatnagar and truck driver was introduced to panchas, A.C.B. Raiding party members and P.I., and the driver was informed about the information the P.I. Was having with him and sought his cooperation. The name of the truck driver was Satvirsinh Gugansinh Yadav of Haryana State and the name of the cleaner was Vinaykumar Rajendra Yadav also from Haryana. The truck driver was brought near the A.C.B. Vehicle and he was searched. P.I. Mr. Pathan thereafter produced total currency notes of Rs. 100/- to be given in bribe whose numbers and denominations were noted down in the panchnama. Such currency notes were later on given to P.C. Kishor Singh Jhala to carry out the experiment of anthracene powder and ultra violet lamp. Thereafter such currency notes were placed in the right pocket of the pant of truck driver Yadav and instructions were issued to all persons and accordingly second part of the panchnama was drawn on national highway No. 8 near Vaishnav Bhojnalaya at 17.30 hrs. in government jeep. Thereafter in the truck cabin alongwith the driver, panch No. 1, A.C.B. Party members P.C. Girishkumar and Abdemunaf Saiyad and P.I. Mr. Pathan occupied their seat and truck driver instructed to proceed further. Panch No. 2 cleaner Vijaykumar and rest of the A.C.B. Party members followed the truck at a safe distance. At Nana Chiloda octroi naka, the truck driver in company with panch No. 1, showed certain papers for M-pass and came back to the truck. Thereafter, after passing through Naroda bethak, S.T. workshop, Krushnanagar, soni ni chali and Jashodanagar 4 cross roads, when the truck came on Cadila bridge, traffic police constable, Jasuji Jugaji Chavda buckle No. 3606 (accused No. 2) gave whistle and P.C. Savjibhai Koyabhai Patel buckle No. 8117 (accused No. 1) gave hand signal to stop the truck. Thereafter accused No. 1 came to the said truck driver and in presence of Panch No. 1 stated to the truck driver "what is in the truck and where he wants to go". Thereupon, the truck driver told him in Hindi "it is full of Thumps Up and he wants to go to the godown near Aslali". Thereupon the Accused No. 1 stated that "give entry". Thereafter the truck driver Yadav told him in Hindi "how much should I pay you". Thereupon, the Accused No. 1 told him to pay Rs. 100/-. Thereafter the truck driver told him in Hindi that he is paying Rs. 50/- regularly. Thereupon, the Accused No. 1 told him "don't talk of Rs. 50/-. I am not accepting even Rs. 90/-. I will take Rs. 100/-". The Accused No. 1 further added that "pay me Rs. 100/- quickly". Thereafter truck driver took out the tainted currency notes from his right pocket pant with the help of right hand and counted with the help of left hand and paid it to Accused No. 1 who accepted the same with his right hand and placed the same in the rear right pocket of his pant with his right hand. At this time, it was 18.50 hrs. The A.C.B. Party members and P.I. Mr. Pathan and Panch No. 1 got down from the truck and stopped both the accused. By this time, Panch No. 2 and rest of the A.C.B. Members also came in jeep. P.I. Mr. Pathan thereafter introduced himself as P.I. A.C.B. And on asking the names of both the P.Cs. One of them told his name as Savjibhai Koyabhai Patel Buckle No. 8117, traffic branch, Group No. 15 and the name of the other person was Jasuji Jugaji Chavda, Buckle No. 3606, unarmed P.C. Traffic branch, Group No. 15. Both the accused and truck driver Yadav were brought near the Government jeep and all over checked by the lamp operator. Accused No. 1-Savjibhai Patel was checked by Panch No. 2 and from the rear right pant pocket the tainted currency notes were taken out and under the light of the ultra violet lamp, their numbers as specified at Serial Nos. 1 to 7 in the earlier part of the panchnama and on further investigation from the other pocket currency notes of Rs. 150/- were seized for investigation. Under the light of the ultra violet lamp, the finger tips and below the same of right hand were found smeared with anthracene powder. The telephone diary, ball pen, rexin wallent, handkerchief were returned back to him. One memo book bearing Nos. D149701 to 149750 duly signed and sealed by Assistant Police Commissioner of traffic Ahmedabad City were seized wherein the last memo was issued on 6.5.1996. Accordingly, tainted currency notes of Rs. 100/-, other 15 currency notes of Rs. 10/- each, memo book and khakhi dress pant were seized under receipt. Under the ultra violet lamp, the hands and cloths of Accused No. 2 Jasuji Jugaji Chavda were not showing any unusual marks. In his personal search one memo book Nos. D146751 to D146800 duly signed and sealed by Assistant Police Commissioner of traffic, Ahmedabad city were found. The last memo was issued on 8.5.1996. The said memo book was seized for investigation and due receipt was given to Accused No. 2. The truck driver Satvirsinh Yadav was also checked under the light of ultra violet lamp and in this light both his hands and right pocket inside and the border of right pocket of his pent were showing the shining marks of anthracene powder. On further investigation, no tainted currency notes were found in the said pocket. Thereafter, 4 boundaries of place of incident was recorded at Cadila bridge in Government jeep at about 21.00 hrs. in the light placed in the Government jeep. Thereupon, P.I. Mr. Pathan gave complaint against both the accused at 23.30 hrs. in the A.C.B. Office, Ahmedabad city. Before registering of the complaint, on 8.5.1996, P.I. Mr. Pathan, got the information about the various persons serving at various places were accepting illegal bribe amount from various vehicle owners and to confirm the same, he called 2 panchas from the tax department of western zone office of Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation situated at Usmanpura to whom the information was conveyed. They agreed to give cooperation. He thereupon instructed P.C. Kishorsinh to take bottle of anthracene powder, blank papers, soap, water etc. from the office cupboard and left the place of A.C.B. Office by drawing the preliminary panchnama duly signed by panchas and P.I. Mr. Pathan. Thereafter as discussed above, they went near Vaishnav Bhojnalaya and stopped the trucks bearing No. HYG567, the truck driver Satvirsinh Yadav conveyed the information as stated in panchnama Part 1. He also agreed to give cooperation in such a trap. As he was not having shirt pocket and nothing was found in the right pocket of the pant, he was told to keep the same vacant. Thereafter, P.I. Mr. Pathan gave 1 currency note of Rs. 50/-, 4 currency notes of Rs. 10/- and 2 currency notes of Rs. 5/-each whose numbers and denominations were noted down in the panchnama and given to P.C. Kishorsinh to carry out the experiment of ultra violet lamp. P.C. Kishorsinh explained the characteristics of both the articles and took out some anthracene powder on the paper and with the help of 2 fingers he applied the powder on both the sides of the currency notes and placed the currency notes of Rs. 100/- in the left pocket of the truck driver Satvirsinh with an instruction not to touch the same unless occasion arose to make the payment. Then P.C. Kishorsinh took the paper and got it burnt down and thereafter washed his hands with the help of soap and water. Thereafter, his hands and cloths were checked under the ultra violet lamp and nothing unusual was found. The truck driver was instructed to take Panch No. 1 and selected A.C.B. Party members in his truck and to go on Aslali road and on way if any employee stops the truck and demands any bribe amount then to hear the same and make the payment of bribe from the tainted currency notes and on such acceptance of bribe amount to blow the horn 3 times. Panch No. 2, cleaner Vijaykumar and other A.C.B. Party members as well as P.C. Kishorsinh were directed to follow the truck in Government jeep at a safe distance and to stop the person who accepts the bribe amount on watching the agreed signal by the truck driver. According to P.I. Mr. Pathan, the truck driver Satvirsinh started his truck by taking Panch No. 1, P.C. Girish Sisodiya dn Abdemunaf Saiyad and P.I. Mr. Pathan sat in the truck cabin and rest of the persons followed in the Government jeep. The second part of the panchnama was drawn accordingly duly signed by the panchas and P.I. Mr. Pathan. After the truck left Valad, the truck stopped at Nana Chiloda octroi naka where the driver took some papers and came back with M-pass alongwith Panch No. 1. Thereafter, by moving various areas of city of Ahmedabad, when the truck came to Cadila bridge there were 2 traffic constables in uniform. One of the traffic police gave whistle whereas another traffic police signaled with his hand to stop his truck and thereupon the truck driver took his truck on the left side of the road. The traffic police who signaled to stop the truck came near the truck and after some conversation told to give entry. After few discussion, at the demand of the Accused No. 1, truck driver took out the tainted currency notes of Rs. 100/- from right pocket with his right pocket and under the light of ultra violet lamp the inside and border portion were showing the shining marks. Accordingly, panchnama Exh. 17, was completed and the same was signed by panchas and P.I. Mr. Pathan. P.I. Mr. Pathan recorded the statements of driver, cleaner and both the constables, filed the complaint against both the accused which is on record Exh. 18 and complaint at C.R. No. 15/96 was registered at the A.C.B. Police Station and further investigation was carried out by P.I. Mr. Rathod. P.I. Mr. Rathod identified both the accused in the Court and also identified the muddamal currency notes of Rs. 100/- having various denominations, 15 currency notes of Rs. 10/-, khakhi pant and memo book. P.I. Mr. Pathan also identified his signature as well as the signatures of both the panchas on each of the articles as well as muddamal article No. 5 other memo book recovered from Accused No. 2. In further investigation, P.I. Mr. Rathod gone through the complaint, panchnama and receipts, recorded statements of both the panchas, A.C.B. Party member, P.I. Mr. Vaghela, lamp operator Kishorsinh Jhala and P.Cs. Girish Sisodiya and Abdemunaf Saiyad etc. He also obtained certain record of both the accused from the traffic branch and sent all the papers for necessary sanction to prosecute both the accused to his head office and thereafter arrest both the accused and produced them before the Court.

(3.) After completion of the investigation, the charge-sheet was filed before the learned Special Judge, Court No. 2, Ahmedabad which was numbered as Special (A.C.B.) Case No. 60 of 1996.