A. KISHAN RAO Vs. STATE OF AP

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The appellant/A1 aggrieved by the conviction recorded by the Principal Special Judge for SPE and ACB Cases, City Civil Court at Hyderabad for the offences under Ss. 7 and Sec. 13(1)(d) r/w 13(2) of the Act of 1988 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 (for short "the Act of 1988") and sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for a period of six months and one year respectively, vide judgment in CC No.42 of 2003 dtd. 28/11/2007, the present appeal is filed.

(2.) Briefly, the case of the prosecution is that P.W.1/defacto complainant was working as an Attender in the office of the Deputy Director, Social Welfare, Khammam. On 2/11/2000, P.W.1 submitted an application in the APGLI (Andhra Pradesh Government Life Insurance Fund) for loan of Rs.5,000.00 to get his house repaired. The said application Ex.P1 was forwarded through his office and after 15 days of the application, he met the appellant, who was working as Senior Accountant in the District Insurance Office of APGLI. The appellant instructed PW1 to get previous loan details from his office. Accordingly, particulars were provided on 14/12/2000. On 27/12/2000, when P.W.1 met the appellant, the appellant informed that he is eligible for Rs.2,100.00 only. However, P.W.1 insisted that he requires Rs.5,000.00, for which appellant demanded Rs.500.00 as bribe for sanctioning loan of Rs.5,000.00.

(3.) On 3/1/2001, P.W.1 approached the DSP, ACB and lodged Ex.P3 complaint. The DSP asked P.W.1 to come back on 5/1/2001 on which date trap was arranged. On the trap date, independent mediator/P.W.8, DSP/P.W.11 and others were present in the office of DSP. Formalities prior to proceeding to laying trap were followed like smearing the bribe notes with phenolphthalein powder. The said process is done by the agency to test whether the currency notes were handled by the public servant. In the event of touching the currency notes, particles of phenolphthalein powder would be transferred onto the hands of the public servant and when asked to rinse in sodium carbonate solution, the test would turn pink indicating handling of the currency notes. Having completed the procedure, what all transpired during pre-trap proceedings were drafted under Ex.P11.