(1.) The instant appeal has been preferred against the impugned judgment of conviction and order of sentence dated 01.10.2003 passed by Special Judge, Ferozepur vide which the accused-appellant was convicted under Section 474 IPC and sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for a period of three years and to pay a fine of Rs.10,000/- and in default to further undergo rigorous imprisonment for one year.
(2.) Prosecution case in brief as set up during the trial was that the son of complainant Tehal Singh (PW-6) appeared in the matriculation examination held by the Punjab State Education Board (for brevity ' PSEB') in the month of March, 1993 as a student of Government School, Mallanwala. As he did not fair well in the said examination, he told the complainant that one of his friends Sarbjit Singh too had not done well in the matriculation examination in the previous year but had still managed to get a "pass"? matriculation certificate prepared through Sukhdev Singh, Nazeer Chand and Raman Monga, Sarpanch, member panchayat and teacher respectively. The complainant thereafter approached Sukhdev Singh and Nazeer Chand in April, 1993 and sought their help in procuring a "pass"? matriculation certificate for his son, who in turn demanded Rs.13,000/- for getting the needful done. The complainant subsequently paid the amount demanded to Sukhdev Singh, who assured him that the needful would be done. All this transaction took place in the presence of Sarabjit Singh, Jarnail Singh and Virsa Singh. The money was then passed on to co-accused Raman Monga by the Sukhdev Singh and Nazeer Chand in the presence of the complainant and the aforementioned three persons, who had accompanied him. However, when the matriculation result was declared, his son's name did not figure in the list of successful candidates. In July 1993, when the complainant approached Nazeer Chand, a detailed marks card (for short 'DMC') of his son was delivered to him in which his son was shown to have passed the matriculation examination. The complainant took the DMC to the Education Office at Mohali where it was revealed to him that the said DMC was a fake certificate. He then again approached Sukhdev Singh and Nazeer Chand and demanded back the money given by him to them. However, they refused to return the same. Further, the complainant Tehal Singh PW-6 also stated that it had come to his knowledge that the aforesaid persons had accepted money from different people for procuring such like fake certificates. On the basis of the statement of complainant Tehal Singh Ex.P-9 made to PW-9 ASI Jaswant Rai, FIR No.134 (Ex.P-9/B) was registered under Sections 420, 465, 468, 471, 201, 34 IPC and Section 8/9 of Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 leading to the arrest of Sukhdev Singh and Nazeer Chand on 16.11.1994 whereas accused Raman Monga was arrested on 26.11.1994. On her arrest, Raman Monga suffered a disclosure statement Ex.P-14 in pursuance to which, two forged DMCs of Amrik Singh and Sat Pal Singh were recovered vide recovery memos Ex.P-16 and P-17.
(3.) During the investigation, the statements of the persons named by the complainant Tehal Singh (PW-6), who had purportedly given money for procuring such like fake certificates were recorded wherein it was revealed that accused Raman Monga along with a PSEB clerk namely Dalvinder Singh appellant had been accepting money from them for supplying fake matriculation certificates. Subsequently, accused-appellant Dalvinder Singh was arrested on 29.11.1994.