PARASHARAM PANDURANG SHEVALE Vs. STATE OF MAHARASHTRA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE appellant is original accused No. 2. He, alongwith original accused No. 1, was charged, in the Court of the Special Judge, Thane, in Special Case No. 12 of 1982 for offences under Section 5 (1) (d) and Section 5 (2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act read with section 34 of the Indian Penal Code. In additional accused No. 2, was also charged under section 165 A of the Indian Penal Code. At the material time, accused No. 1 was an unarmed Police Constable, and accused No. 2 was an unarmed Head Constable: Both were attached to the Wagale Estate Police Station. The complainant in the case is P. W. 2 Richard Standli Lobo. On the 16th of February, 1982 he lodged a complaint at the Anti Corruption Bureau, Thane. The complaint (Exhibit 28) was recorded by P. W. 7 P. S. I. Dashrath Kishan Kotkar. Since no other senior officer was present at that time, Kotkar took Lobo and the complaint (Ext. 28) to the Court of the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Thane. He submitted report (Exhibit 46) alongwith the complaint. He also produced Lobo Before him. Permission to investigation (Exhibit 45) was granted in favour of Kotkar. Kotkar sent a request letter to the office of the Collector to spare two members of the establishment to act as Panchas. Accordingly, two persons, who include P. W. 1 Purushottam Bhoir, attended and volunteered to act as Panchas. On the Very day i. e. on the 16th of February, 1982 a pre-trap panchanama (Ext. 20) was prepared and the raiding party proceeded for a trap. After the trap, certain documents were seized. They include the copies of the warrants of arrest (Exhibit 23 and 24 ). A chit (Exh. 25) purported to have been scribed by accused No. 2 was also seized.

(2.) DURING investigation, statement of P. W. 3 Pralhad Joshi, who was then the Police Inspector of the Wagale Estate Police Station, was recorded. He deposed to the distribution of duties on the Wag ale Estate Police Station. According to Joshi, accused No. 2 was entrusted with the duty of serving summonses and executing warrants which were issued by the Court and sent to the Wagale Estate Police Station for being served on the witnesses and accused. In addition, the statement of P. W. 6 Han More, a head Constable attached to the said police station, was also recorded. According to him, though his name appears on the bailable warrant (Exhibit 23), the same was never entrusted to him for service. According to him, accused No. 2 was entrusted with the job. P. S. I. Kotkar on the 22nd of June, 1982 vide his application (Exhibit 32), applied to the Commissioner of Police for sanction to prosecute. The police commissioner, P. W. 4 Satish Sahani, on the 14th of July 1982, accorded sanction (Exhibit 35 ). Katkar, thereafter, lodged his complaint (Exhibit 50) which has given rise to the present prosecution. The facts of the case may be summarised as under.

(3.) THE complainant, P. W. 2, Lobo, is a resident of Kisan Nagar, Thane. He was involved in the commission of an offence of Gambling and also an offence of indecent assault. Non-bailable warrants were issued against Lobo. The warrants were made returnable on 24th of February, 1982 and 3rd of May, 1982.