P GANESAN Vs. STATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS appeal has been preferred against the Judgment in Special C.C.No.1 of 1998 on the file of the Special Judge at Pondicherry, the accused who has been charged under Section 7 and 13(2) r/w 13(1)(d) of the Prevention of Corruption Act. (Hereinafter referred to as " the Act") is the appellant herein.

(2.) THE case of the prosecution is that on20.1.1994, the accused had demanded Rs.500/- for the purpose of shifting the telephone line from the guest house premises from 3rd Street, Anna Nagar, Pondicherry to Victoria Nagar, Pondicherry and also for installing a new push button model phone and that he had demanded and accepted a sum of Rs.200/- on 20.1.1994 itself and had demanded and accepted the remaining amount of Rs.300/- from the complainant as bribe. Hence the charge.

(3.) P.W.1 is the Sub Divisional Engineer of Telephone Department who would admit that the accused is working in the same department as a line man and after perusing the documents produced before him by the Investigation Officer in this case like F.I.R, the complaint, statement of witnesses and other related documents, after getting himself satisfied in respect of prima facie case has been made out against the accused,he gave his sanction of prosecution against the accused under ExP2. 5a. P.W.2 is the complainant, who is the storekeeper in M/s Cirfab Pvt Co., and M/s Pondy Polimer Co., and that Mr.B.S.Reddy is the Administrative Manager of the said Company. The telephone indicator No.37951 was in use in old guesthouse of the company at Anna Nagar, Pondicherry and the same was shifted to new premises at No.13, Victoria Nagar, Pondicherry. Ex P3 is the application for shifting of the telephone connection by the Company and as per the directions of the Manager Mr.B.S.Reddy, he went to Victoria guest house on 20.1.994 where the accused Ganesan also came there for the purpose of giving new telephone connection and after effecting the connection, he said that he will come back for changing the instrument into that of a push button type and that on 20.1.1994 itself,the accused had demanded Rs.500/- for giving the connection and also for installing a new model telephone and he had given Rs.200/- on 20.1.1994 itself for having effected the new connection and that he informed the Administrative Manager Mr.B.S.Reddy about the demand of bribe amount by the accused and also a part of the bribe amount of Rs.500/- ie., Rs 200/- has been given to the accused by him(P.W.2) and that the accused had stated that he will come back and collect the remaining bribe amount of Rs.300/- from him at Victoria guest house. Since the Administrative Manager Mr.B.S.Reddy has instructed him not to give the bribe amount of Rs.300/- to the accused but to prefer a complaint with Vigilance Department, he (P.W.2)has preferred a complaint Ex P4 with CBI ACB,Madras and that on 28.1.1994, at about 2.30p.m., he went to the guest house at Victoria Nagar and the accused Ganesan also came there at about 3.00p.m and changed the instrument into push button type and after installation of the push button type, the accused demanded an amount of Rs.300/- but he has been given the amount to the accused but requested him to come in the late evening. Accordingly, the accused informed him that he will return back to the Victoria guest house between 5.30p.m and 6.00p.m., and to keep the amount of Rs.300/- ready and after the accused left the guest house, he contacted Mr.B.S.Reddy over phone informing him that the accused had installed the instrument and also demanded Rs 300/- from him and as per the instruction of Mr.B.S.Reddy, he(P.W.2) asked the accused to come in the evening and he returned. As per instruction of Mr.B.S.Reddy, he met the CBI officials at Uppalam guest house along with Rs.300/- and lodged Ex P4 complaint where P.W.5, the Inspector of Police Premkumar, another Inspector Aranganathan, D.S.P.Ramasamy and Head Constable Jayamohan were present and immediately two unknown persons arrived at Uppalam guest house and the Inspector of Police introduced them to him as Sankaralingam and Singaravelu of Secretariat and prepared Entrustment mahazar Ex P5 wherein the witnesses have signed. As mentioned in Ex P5, entrustment Mahazar, a demonstration was conducted by the Inspector by taking water in a glass and mixed sodium carbonate powder and asked the trap witness Sankaralingam to dip his hands when he dipped so, there was no change in the colour of the solution. Phenolphthalein powder was smeared on the currency notes produced by him(P.W.2) and Sankaralingam was asked to handle the currency notes and afterwards,he was asked to dip his fingers in the sodium carbonate solution. After he dipped so, the colourless solution turned pink colour. The Inspector of Police, instructed him(P.W.2) not to touch the currency notes unless it was demanded by the accused Ganesan. As per the instruction of the Inspector of Police,Prem Kumar, he and P.W.3 Sankaralingam went to Victoria Nagar guest house in TVS 50 moped and trap team members were followed them in a van. He (P.W.2) and Sankaralingam were waiting in the hall of the guest house for the arrival of the accused and other team members hidding themselves in the bed room of the guest house , the Inspector of Police Mr.Prem Kumar has also instructed him(P.W.2) to give signal by wiping his face with a kerchief since the accused had received the bribe amount. The accused came to the guest house at about 6.30p.m. and enquired whether the instrument was functioning properly and then demanded Rs.300/- from him(P.W.2). Immediately, he took out the currency notes from his pocket and handed over the same to the accused who after counting the same kept in his shirt pocket. The currency notes are Rs.100 in denomination numbering three. After the accused had received the tainted amount, he gave signal as instructed by the Investigating Officer to the trap team who were hidding in the bed room. The Inspector of Police Mr. Prem Kumar and his trap team entered into the hall and after introducing him to the accused and informed the accused that he is under arrest. The recovery mahazar was prepared under Ex P6, for the seizure of the currency notes bearing Nos.8AQ 247699,4GD 424255 and 9LG 762252 viz., M.Os 1 to 3 and the trap was completed at 7.45p.m. 5b. P.W.3 Sankaralingam is the witness in Ex P5 mahazar. According to him, as per the instruction of the under Secretary of D.P. and A.R.Section, Secretariat, Pondicherry, he went and met the Vigilance Officer of CBI Department and as per his instructions along with another witness, Thiru R.Singaravelu and along with the Inspector of Police Mr.Prem Kumar and his team mates went to Uppalam guest house where P.W.2 was introduced to him. The complaint preferred by P.W.2 was also read over to him. The Entrustment Mahazar Ex P5 was prepared in his presence and he would narrate about the instructions given by Mr.Prem Kumar, the Investigating Officer to P.W.2 and accordingly both he(P.W.3) and P. W.2 went to Victoria guest house at about 6.00p.m., , the accused came there and demanded Rs.300/- from P.W.2 as a bribe for shifting the telephone and also changing the telephone instrument. P.W.2 handed over the tainted currency notes to the accused and after counting the same, kept in his shirt pocket and P.W.2 gave pre arranged signal to the trap team. Immediately CBI Officials entered into the hall from their hidding place and Phenolphthalein test was conducted and when the accused was asked to dip his right hand in the said solution,it turned into pink in colour which was sealed and labelled as"A". The said pink colour bottle solution is M.O.4 and in another glass sodium carbonate solution was prepared and the accused was asked to dip his left finger into the solution which also turned into pink in colour which was labelled as"B".M.O.5 is the said bottle. Ex P6 mahazar was prepared for the trap test conducted in the presence of him(P.W.3) and other witnesses and the accused. His shirt pocket in which the accused had placed ill-gotten money was subjected to the phenolphthalein testM.O.7 is the shirt of the accused . The numbers of the currency notes recovered from the accused were compared with the numbers of the currency notes noted in Ex P5 mahazar and found to be tallied with each other and the accused was released on bail. Ex P8 is the search list prepared by the Inspector of police in his presence. 5c. P.W.4 is the then Assistant Manager of Pondicherry telephone. He speaks about the application made by P.W.1 for the shifting of his telephone from Anna Nagar guest house to Victoria Nagar guest house. Ex P9 is the advice for shifting of the telephone issued by him and after Ex P9 work of shifting was entrusted to one Ranganathan, Phone Inspector who had sent the lineman, the accused herein by entrusting the work for shifting the telephone to Victoria Nagar guest house from Anna Nagar guest house. After completion of the out door work, Ex P11 jumper slip was issued under his signature. He would depose that if the subscriber carries out the internal wiring then a sum of Rs.300/- will be given to the subscriber from out of the shifting fee of Rs.600/-. Under Ex P15, the customer in this case has claimed Rs.300/- for the internal work carried out by them. Ex P16 contains the shift particulars. Ex P17 is the gate pass wherein the accused has also signed . Under Ex P17 he has ordered for a refund of Rs.300/- to the subscriber since the internal work was carried by them. 5d. P.W.5 is the Inspector of Police who had conducted the investigation in this case. He speaks about the complaint preferred by P.W.2 against the accused alleging that he had demanded Rs.300/- towards bribe for shifting the telephone connection from Anna Nagar guest house to Victoria Nagar guest house at Pondicherry and also about the trap conducted by him on 28.1.1994 at Victoria guest houe and also about the arrest of the accused in the trap. 5e. P.W.6 is the successor of P.W.5 who had laid the chargesheet after completing the investigation under Section 13(2) r/w 13(1)(d) of the Act against the accused.