KEWAL KRISHAN Vs. STATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS criminal appeal is directed against the order of conviction and sentence passed cm the accused under Section 5 (2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act of 2000, by the Sessions Judge, Jammu.

(2.) THE accused has been found guilty for having accepted an amount of Rs. 50/- as illegal gratification from one Pritam Dass son of Malik Ram an allottee in occupation of a house of the Custodian Evacuee Property, Jammu. The accused has been sentenced to one year's rigorous imprisonment.

(3.) BRIEFLY speaking the facts of the case are as below: The appellant is a Superintendent in the office of the Custodian, Jammu Evacuee Property. House No. 740 was allotted on rent to one Malik Ram father of Pritam Dass the complainant. Malik Ram fell in arrears for the payment of the rent. Thereupon the Custodian Jammu ordered his eviction from the premises. Pursuant to a request made by Malik Ram the Deputy Custodian kept the order of eviction in abeyance on 2-9-1969 on the condition that the tenant paid a sum of Rs. 200/- in lump and also paid the balance in easy instalments of Rs. 50/- along with the due monthly rent Pritam Dass son of Malik Ram approached the accused appellant and requested him to hand over the stay order of eviction. On 6-9-1969 the accused told Pritam Dass that he would not accede to his request unless he was paid Rs. 150/- as bribe. He further told Pritam Dass that he was the office superintendent and that he could tamper with the rent deed and convert the figure of Rs. 25/- into Rs. 30/ -. P. M. Pritam Dass agreed to pay him Rs. 50/- on that day and promised to pay the balance of Rs. 100/- when the order of eviction was withdrawn. Thereafter Pritam Dass left the office of the Custodian assuring the accused that he would soon return along-with money. He went straight to the office of the Anti-Corruption, Jammu and apprised the Superintendent Anti-Corruption of the matter. He made an application Ex. P. A. giving the relevant details. The Deputy S. P. Anti-Corruption sent for the Tehsildar Magistrate and one Hari Ram of Jammu. Notes of ten rupee denomination five in number which were intended to be given to the accused as bribe were initialled by Bhagat Karam Chand. Tehsildar Magistrate. Amrik Chand Dy. S P. and Hari Ram. The complainant was asked to go to the office of the accused and passed the notes on to the accused in furtherance of his demand for bribe. Thus a trap was laid. When the complainant went inside the room of the accused to Pay the amount, the Dy. S. P. the Tehsildar Magistrate and Hari Ram remained outside. After making the payment "the complainant came out of the room and gave a signal to the raiding party indicating that the amount had been paid. The raid followed and all the five notes Ex. P-1 to Ex. P-5 were recovered from the person of the accused. A seizure memo Ex. P-1 was prepared on spot. The Police filed a complaint under Section 5 (2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act before the Sessions Judge, Jammu after obtaining the necessary sanction from the competent authority. The learned Sessions Judge found the accused guilty of the said offence and sentenced him as mentioned above.