SANJAY KUMAR Vs. STATE OF MADHYA PRADESH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Appellant has filed this appeal against the judgment dated 4th July, 2005 passed by Special Judge (C. B. I.), Jabalpur in Special Case No. 4/ 2003 convicting him under Section 7 and Section 13(1)(d) read with Section 13(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 and sentencing him to rigorous imprisonment for one year with fine of Rs. 1000/- and rigorous imprisonment for two years with fine of Rs. 2000/- on each count respectively. Both the sentences have been directed to run concurrently.

(2.) Prosecution case is that on 29-10-2002 accused/appellant was working as Personnel Officer in Amlai Open Cast Mines (in short OCM), South Eastern Coalfield Limited (in short SECL), Sohagpur Ares. It is said that accused demanded Rs. 3000/- as bribe from complainant Pradeep Kumar Shukla (PW5) for issuing Labour Payment Certificate (hereinafter referred to as LPC) for the payment of wages of security guards of Maruti Security and Personnel Services (hereinafter referred to as MSPS) for the month of June, 2002. MSPS was a security agency, which had entered into a contract with SECL since the year 2001 for security of the property of SECL. For payment of wages to security guards and other employees of MSPS, a certificate about the payment of wages of the labours was required to be issued by an officer of SECL for certificate that the wages of employees were being paid as per the requirement and that just payment was received by the security guards of MSPS. It is said that accused was required to issue the LPC to MSPS for the payment of wages of the month of June 2002 Pradeep Kumar Shukla (PW5) was working as security supervisor in MSPS and was representing it for the purpose of obtaining the labour payment bills of security guards of MSPS of Sohagpur Area of SECL. On 29-10-2002, when Inspector of CBI, Jabalpur Shri S. M. S. Chouhan (PW10) was camping at Shahdol, Pradeep Kumar Shukla (PW5) submitted a written complaint (Ex. P/5) to him stating that accused Sanjay Kumar was demanding Rs. 3000/- for issuing the LPC for the month of May, 2002 without which the payment of wages for the month of June 2002 of the security guards of MSPS was held up. On the basis of aforesaid complaint (Ex. P/5), Inspector S. M. S. Chouhan (PW10) started investigation. He decided to lay a trap on Sanjay Kumar for catching him red-handed. On 29-10-2002, he summoned two officers from New India Assurance Company, Shahdol viz. S. K. Dwivedi (PW2) and Bhupat Kishore (PW3) at Hotel Surya, Room No. 203 at about 4 p. m. where the team of CBI was staying. S. K. Dwivedi (PW2) was the Development Officer and Bhupat Kishore (PW3) was Administrative Officer in New India Assurance Company, Shahdol. When these witnesses reached hotel, they were introduced to complainant Pradeep Kumar Shukla (PW5). They read the complaint Ex. P/5 made by Pradeep Kumar Shukla and after verifying the authenticity of the complaint, signed on it.

(3.) Demonstration of pre-trap proceedings was done and Pradeep Kumar Shukla was asked to give the currency notes, which were to be delivered to accused by way of bribe. He handed over 30 notes of denomination of Rs. 100/-, totalling Rs. 3000/-. Numbers of the notes were recorded in pre-trap memorandum Ex. P/6; phenolphthalein powder was applied to the said notes and the notes were kept in the left pocket of the shirt of Pradeep Kumar Shukla. Pradeep Kumar Shukla was asked to not to touch these notes unless they were to be handed over to accused on his demand. S. K. Dwivedi was directed to accompany Pradeep Kumar Shukla as a shadow witness and was instructed to hear the talks taking place between accused and the complainant and to give a signal after the tainted money was handed over to accused. Bhupat Kishore (PW3) was instructed to accompany the trap team and to watch the proceedings.