KRISHNA MURARI PANDEY Vs. STATE OF U P

JUDGEMENT

(1.) -This application has been filed by the applicant Krishna Murari Pandey with a prayer that he may be released on bail in Case Crime No. 672 of 2007 under Section 7/13 (2) of Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, P. S. Kotwali district Maharajganj.

(2.) THE facts of the case in brief are that the F.I.R. of this case has been lodged by Sri Harish Chandra Verma, In-charge Inspector of Anti- Corruption Department (C.I.D.), Gorakhpur on 11.6.2007 at 8.35 p.m. in respect of the incident which had occurred on 11.6.2007 at about 4.50 p.m. THE alleged occurrence has taken place in the office of D.P.O. Vikas Bhawan, Maharajganj, which was at a distance of about 3 km. from the Police Station Kotwali, Maharajganj. It is alleged that Smt. Fatima Khatoon, Mukhya Sewika Bal Vikas Pariyojna block Ajmanganj district Maharajganj made a complaint that the applicant was involved in the activities of corruption, for signin relevant documents demanding bribe from every persons. He has demanded Rs. 5,000 per month as bribe, being an honest woman she was not able to pay the amount of bribe Rs. 5,000 for which she has been insulted in the meetings and she has been put on continuous harassment by the applicant. Her salary of the month of April, could not be drawn because she was not in a position to pay Rs. 5,000 per month since March, 2005, the complainant has made a request but she was compelled to pay Rs. 1,000 for release of the salary of the month of March, 2007. On this complaint a trap party was constituted. THE number of the currency notes were noted and notes were tainted with phenophthalein powder, initials were made on every currency note by the in-charge of the trap party. THE complainant was sent to the office of the applicant with the above mentioned currency notes to hand over the same to the applicant. THE complainant went to the office of the applicant at about 4.45 p.m. she was asked by the applicant that Rs. 5,000 had been brought by her or not, she applied in affirmative and asked to accept the same money for releasing the salary of the month of April, 2007. After this conversation, she handed over the currency notes to the applicant. THE applicant was apprehended by the trap party alongwith the currency notes which were taken as bribe. THE currency notes were checked and verified with the list prepared before the trap, which were signed, but at the place of trap in the Vikas Bhawan a crowd was gathered, for security purpose of the applicant, witnesses and member of the trap party came to the police station Kotwali where the remaining formalities of washing the hand with sodium carbonate etc. were done and the applicant was taken into custody.

(3.) IT is contended by the learned counsel for the applicant that the applicant being the Child Development Project Officer, was squeezing the money from his subordinates is absolutely false, baseless. The applicant has not demanded any amount from the complainant Smt Fatima Khatoon but on account of some ulterior motives a false complaint has been made and in a pre-planned manner, the applicant has been falsely implicated in the present case but the proceedings of trap has not been completed at the place of occurrence, the same has been completed at the Police Station Kotwali, which belies the whole prosecution story and the allegation that for releasing the salary the applicant was demanding Rs. 5,000 per month is highly improbable also, the pay slip of Smt. Fatima Khatoon for the month of April, 2007, has already been forwarded to the Treasury Officer, her total pay is about Rs. 7,500. There is no other complaint against the applicant. The alleged money has not been recovered from the possession of the applicant. The applicant was forcibly taken to the police station by the trap team where his hand has been wrongly shown as washed by the sodium carbonate, the entire story given in the F.I.R. is fabricated. The witnesses mentioned in the F.I.R. are highly interested and partisan. The witness Raj Bahadur is a resident of village Bela Dwara and other witness is the husband of Smt. Fatima Khatoon. There was no occasion for these two witnesses to be present at Vikas Bhawan Maharajganj.