SITARAM SINGH Vs. STATE OF BIHAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Both the above appeals arise out of common judgment and order passed by Shri Braj Nandan Sahay, learned Special Judge CBI, Patna in R.C. No. 24(A)/89 in Special Case No. 59/89, by which he has convicted the appellant Sitaram Singh in Criminal Appeal (SJ) No228 of 2003 under Section 7 and 13(2) read with Section 13(1)(d) of Prevention of Corruption Act, hereinafter referred to as the P.C. Act, 1988 and was sentenced to undergo R.I. for one year and also convicted him under Section 224 of the Indian Penal Code and sentenced him to undergo R.I. for one month and appellant Ajit Kumar in Cr. Appeal (SJ) No. 238 of 2003 has been convicted under Sections 225, 353 and 186 of the Indian Penal Code and has been sentenced to undergo R.I. for three months under each section. The sentences were directed to run concurrently.

(2.) Prosecution case in short is that Appellant Sitaram Singh was demanding Rs. 500/- (Rs. Five Hundred) for making correction in the pay fixation of the complainant, who retired as a teacher and as such the complainant filed a complaint before the S.P. C.B.I., who got the allegation verified by an Inspector of C.B.I. and, thereafter, F.I.R was lodged and two independent witnesses were called and trap team was constituted and the demonstration was done before the complainant and pre-trap memorandum was prepared. Thereafter, the trap team went to the Accountant General Office, Patna and arrested the appellant Sitaram Singh, while demanding and accepting illegal gratification of Rs. 300/- from the complainant and Rs. 300/- was recovered from his pocket and number of G.C. notes were compared with the number of G.C. notes entered in the pre trap memorandum. It is further alleged that in the meantime, large number of persons assembled and tried to rescue appellant Sitaram Singh and in the attempt to rescue the appellant Sitaram Singh, the mob attacked the members of trap team and the said mob was led by the appellant Ajit Kumar, thereafter, the armed forces arrived and crowd dispersed and post trap memorandum was prepared after taking the appellant to the C.B.I. office.

(3.) Charges were framed against the appellants and in support of charge, prosecution examined altogether fourteen witnesses, they are; PW1 - Md. Ataullah Khan, PW2 - R.S.S. Yadav, PW3 - Ranjeet Singh, PW4 - Sukhaiy Sardar, PW5 - Ramrup Prasad, the complainant, PW6 - Rajani Ranjan Sahay, PW7 - Kailash Singh, PW8 - R.B. Sinha, PW9- Uday Pratap Singh, PW10- B.K. Birdhi, PW11- Ashok Kumar, PW 12- L.K. Sharma, PW13- Ram Rashik Singh and PW14 - R.C. Choudhary.