KAMTA PRASAD YADAV Vs. STATE OF U P

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This appeal has been preferred by the appellant Kamta Prasad Yadav against the judgment and order dated 14.2.1986, passed by Sri R.B.L. Dohare, Special & Additional Sessions Judge, Bulandshahar, whereby he convicted the appellant under Section 1611.P.C. read with Section 5(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act and sentenced him to undergo one years rigorous imprisonment in special Case No. 1 of 1983.

(2.) The prosecution case, in brief, is that on 22.5.1982 Har Charan complainant, resident of village Ahmadpur Choroli, police station Jewar, District Bulandshahar brought two Buggis of wheat for sale at Jewar Purchasing Centre. At that time the appellant was posted as Incharge of the Purchasing Centre. He saw the wheat and refused to purchase it, being of inferior quality. The complainant then persuaded the appellant but he demanded Rs. 200/- as bribe for purchasing the wheat and ultimately the deal was settled at Rs. 165/-. After weighment of the wheat, the appellant demanded the bribe money before issuing the cheque but the complainant refused to pay the same. The appellant then told him that the cheque and receipt would not be issued unless he paid the amount settled. Thereupon the complainant assured him to pay the money next day i.e. on 23.5.1982 and left the Centre. In the evening he contacted his fellow villagers. Narendra Singh Pradhan and Jagdish. They after deliberations decided to report the matter to the District Magistrate next day. On 23.5.1982 the complainant took Rs. 165/- and then in the company of Narendra Singh and Jagdish went to meet the District Magistrate, Bulandshahar. The District Magistrate heard their complaint and asked them to contact Sri Bheem Singh Som, Sub Divisional Magistrate, Sikandrabad. The complainant then went alone to meet the Sub-Divisional Magistrate Shri Som, who recorded his statement (Ext. Ka 8) got it thumb marked and took over the currency notes of Rs. 165/from the complainant. On these notes the Magistrate put his initials and placed the notes and the statement in an envelope and handed over the same to the complainant with the instruction to meet the District Magistrate. At that time Sri Javed Usmandi was the in-charge District Magistrate. He saw the papers and directed the complainant to contact the Superintendent of Police, Bulandshahar who in his turn sent the complainant to the Trap Inspector with a letter containing a direction to him for laying the trap. The complainant then contacted Sri P.C. Rohtela, Deputy Superintendent of Police and handed over the envelopes to him. From Bulandshahar, the party consisting of the complainant, Narendra Singh, Jagdish and Deputy S.P. Sri P.C. Rohtela proceeded on a Jeep to Khurja. On reaching Khurja Sri Rohtela picked up three constables and then the entire party left for Jewar. Reaching at Janta Inter College, Jewar, the Jeep alongwith the Driver was left at the College and from there the members of the party proceeded to the Wheat Purchasing Centre on foot. They all reached the Centre at 5.20 P.M. There the complainant and one constable, who was in plain clothes, were instructed by the Trap Inspector to contact the accused- appellant, who at that time was sitting in a room of the Purchasing Center and other members hid behind a stack of wheat bags at the Centre out-side the office room of the appellant from where the witnesses could see everything inside the room and also hear the talks of the complainant and the accused both. On entering the room, the complainant first wished the accused and then demanded the cheque whereupon the accused asked him to pay the settled money first and the complainant said that he had brought the amount. The appellant then inquired about the identity of the person accompanying the complainant and the latter introduced him as his younger brother working in a Factory at Faridabad. As per demand, the complainant offered the currency notes bearing the initials of the Sub Divisional Magistrate Sri Som. The accused took the notes, counted the money and put it beneath his Gaddi. The trap Inspector who was supervising the activities while in hiding, came out from behind the heap of bags with the witnesses and arrested the appellant. The Trap Inspector recovered the currency notes from under the Gaddi, prepared recovery memos of the notes and other articles, including the money and the cheque found in the pocket of the accused. He also took into possession the Tak patti, containing the entry of the wheat bags of the complainant at serial No. 226597. The Trap Inspector got the recovery memos signed by the witnesses on the spot and thereafter brought the accused and the recovered articles to Police station Jewar where an F.I.R. of the incident was lodged at 6.30 P.M. the same day and the accused alongwith recovered articles was handed over to the police.

(3.) The investigation of the case was entrusted to Sri Balbir Singh Chauhan (P.W. 6), who was then posted as Circle Officer, Khurja, Sri Chauhan recorded the statements of the witnesses, prepared a site plan of place of incident, took down the statements of the accused and Sri Bheem Singh Som, S.D.M. and sent a letter to the Managing Director Agro at Lucknow for according necessary sanction for prosecution of the accused-appellant. After receipt of the sanction Ex. Ka.15, a charge sheet was then submitted in court against the accused.