SASHI BHUSAN KAR Vs. STATE OF ORISSA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) A Senior Mining Officer the appellant stood charged under section 5(2) read with section 5(1)(d) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1947 (for short the Act) for having obtained for himself pecuniary advantage to the tune of Rs. 2,000/- on April 26. 1979, while functioning as such at Joda, from Gopinath Mohanty (P.W. 2), the Manager of Murgabeda Mines at Joda, serving under the mine owner Mr. Niranjan Patnaik (P.W. 8), by corrupt and illegal means and by otherwise abusing his position as a public servant and under section 16 I of the Indian Penal Code (Tthe Code, for short) for having accepted the amount of Rs. 2,000/- from P.W. 2 as gratification other than legal remuneration with the motive for doing or forbearing or for showing favour in the exercise of his official functions as the Senior Mining Officer posted at Joda.

(2.) I would narrate briefly the case of the prosecution presented at the trial. After the appellant joined as the Senior Mining Officer at Joda in 1979, he demanded a bribe of Rs. 1000/- per month for giving permission to transport iron ores from the Murgabeda Mines of which P.W. 8 was the proprietor with P W. 2 serving under him and this amount was being paid through P.W. 2 to the appellant every month as bribe. This bribe money had been paid at the rate of Rs. 1,000/- per month for the months of January, February and March, 1979. In the month of April, 1979, the appellant, it was alleged, demanded an increased sum of Rs. 2,000/- per month as bribe and insisted on it in spite of the fact that P.W. 2 had expressed before the appellant that owing to the financial position of the mines, he would not be in a position to pay that amount to him. The appellant threatened P.W. 2 that be would close the mines and would not permit transport of iron ores and insisted or: the payment of a monthly bribe at the rate of Rs. 2.000/- per month. This was on April 25, 1979. On that day, P.W. 2 went to Keonjhar and met the Superintendent of Police, Vigilance and lodged the first information report (Ex. 1) before him. The Superintendent of Police, Vigilance (not examined), on receiving the report, asked P.W. 2 to wait. On the day following, the Inspector of Vigilance at Keonjhar (P.W. 10) with the Executive Magistrate (P.W. 9) and the other members of his state went to the Murgabeda Mining Office of Mr. Niranjan Patnaik (P.W. 8) and picked up Uma Shankar Mohanty (P.W. 3) to figure as a witness to the trap. P.W. 2 produced twenty one-hundred rupees currency notes (M.Os. V to XXIV) and P.W. 10 made a preparation report (Ex. 11) wherein he noted down their numbers. The Executive Magistrate (P.W. 9) also noted down the numbers of the currency notes. A Sub-Inspector of Vigilance (P.W. 7) gave a demonstration of the reaction of sodium carbide solution coming in contact with phenolphthalein powder and thereafter treated the currency notes with that powder and kept them in the shirt pocket of P.W. 2. P.W. 2 was instructed to pay the amount to the appellant and the over-hearing witness (P.W. 3) was instructed to give a signal to the raiding party after witnessing the payment of the bribe money to the appellant. Thereafter P. Ws. 2 and 3 proceeded in a jeep towards the office of the appellant being followed by the members of the raiding party. P.W. 2 entered the office room where the appellant had been sitting alone and P.W. 3 remained at the door of that room to hear the conversation between P.W. 2 and the appellant and to watch the payment of the bribe money. The appellant asked P.W. 2 if he had brought the amount and P.W. 2 replied in the affirmative. The appellant then stretched out his hand and P W. 2 handed over M. Os. V to XXIV to the appellant after bringing them out which the appellant kept in his brief case (M.O. II). P.W. 3 then gave a signal to the raiding patty. Immediately thereafter, the raiding party consisting of the Inspector of Vigilance (P.W. 10) and the Executive Magistrate (P.W. 9), besides others, came to the room of the appellant where P.W. 10 introduced the other members of the raiding party to the appellant and charged him that he had received Rs. 2,000/- from P.W. 2 as bribe and demanded that he should produce the amount. The appellant refused to have accepted any bribe money. The appellant was then asked to give his hand wash with the sodium carbide solution and the colour of the hand wash turned pink. The hand wash was preserved in a bottle. The appellant became nervous and could not speak anything. P.W. 2 gave out that he had made over the currency notes to the appellant who had kept them in his brief case. P.W. 10 opened the brief case (M.O. II) which had not been locked and picked out M.Os. V to XXIV and on comparison, the number of these currency notes tallied with the numbers noted by P.W. 9. P.W. 10 also compared the numbers of the currency notes with the numbers mentioned by him in the preparation report and found that the numbers talied. The currency notes (M.Os. V to XXIV) were seized as per Ex. 3, the seizure list. The appellant, it was alleged, did not offer any explanation as to how he came to possess M.Os. V to XXIV. A detection report (Ex. 2) was prepared by P.W. 10. Investigation followed. The prosecution of the appellant was sanctioned by the sanctioning authority as per Ex. 16, the sanction order. A charge-sheet was placed resulting in the prosecution of the appellant being charged as stated above.

(3.) To bring home the charges to the appellant, the prosecution have examined eleven witnesses. Of them, P.W. 8 was the mine owner and P.W. 2 was his Manager. P.W. 3 was the overhearing witness who had witnessed the transaction of handing over the bribe money of Rs; 2,000/- to the appellant and the receipt of that sum by latter. P.W. 1 the Inspector of Vigilance at Sambalpur had formally registered a case on the basis of the first information report (Ex.1) lodged by P.W. 2 before the Superintendent of Police, Vigilance at Keonjhar which had been forwarded to the Vigilance Police Station at Sambalpur. P W. 4, the Senior Inspector of Mines at Joda, was present with the appellant when the raiding party including P W. 10 came to his room and demanded production of Rs. 2,000/-received by the appellant as the bribe money from P.W. 2 P.W. 5, the Senior Inspector of Mines in the office of the appellant, had proved some entries made in the minute Book of the Recreation Club (Ex. A) with regard to some collections for the Club and he had spoken about some interpolations made therein at the instance of the appellant. This evidence had been led by the prosecution to demolish the theory of the defence that the amount of Rs. 2,000/- had not been received by the appellant as bribe money, but as the previously promised donation amount from P.Ws. 2 and 8 for the Club. P.W. 6, a Building Inspector, had merely prepared a spot map (Ex. 8) locating the office room of the appellant and giving the positions of the different witnesses at the time of commission of the offence. As earlier indicated, P.W. 7 was a SubInspector of Vigilance. Mr. Niranjan Patnaik (P.W. 8) had spoken about the payments of bribe money at the rate of Rs. 1,000/- to the appellant for three months and the receipt of information from P.W. 2 regarding the trap laid in respect of the payment of Rs. 2,000/- to the appellant on April 26, 1979. P.W. 9 was the Executive Magistrate who had accompanied the raiding party. P.W. 10 was the Inspector of Vigilance who conducted the raid and had investigated into the case. P.W. 11, the Special Secretary in the Political and Services Department of the Government of Orissa at Bhubaneswar in March, 1980, had spoken about the sanction for the prosecution of the appellant.