- (1.) Leave granted.
(2.) This appeal is directed against the final judgment and order dated 08.09.2011 passed by the High Court of Himachal Pradesh at Shimla in Criminal Appeal No. 713 of 2008 whereby the High Court while partly allowing the appeal filed by the appellant herein set aside the conviction under Section 7 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 (for short 'the P.C. Act') and upheld the conviction and sentence awarded by the trial Court under Section 13(2) of the P.C. Act.
(3.) Brief facts: (a) In January, 2003, the appellant had been posted as Divisional Tourism Development Officer, Dharamshala, H.P. His duty includes issuing permits for running of buildings as guest houses/hotels, by registering them as such and fixing the tariff for different types of rooms/accommodation in the said buildings. (b) One Nirwan Singh is having a Tea Orchard and a house in Cheelgari in Dharamshala. He executed a general power of attorney in favour of the complainant - Sukhjit Singh Sidhu for managing his aforesaid properties. He renovated the said house and converted and converted it into a hotel and sought permission for registration and for fixing of tariff for the same from the appellant herein. (c) On 28.04.2003, the appellant officially inspected the site of the hotel. After inspection, the appellant found everything in order and asked the complainant to go ahead with the running of the hotel. The complainant also requested him to give official permission to run the same. On 02.05.2003, the appellant recorded a note for registration of the same fixing tariff for different rooms. However, formal letter of registration and order of fixation of tariff had not been issued. (d) It is the case of the prosecution that on 04.05.2003, the complainant received a telephonic call from the appellant at about 4.00 p.m. informing him that his case for registration of hotel and fixation of tariff had been cleared and that he could collect the registration certificate on the next day by paying him Rs. 10,000/-. (e) The complainant being an Ex-serviceman not inclined to give bribe and therefore, he shared this conversation with his friend Ashwani Bhatia (PW- 3) and on 05.05.2003, both of them went to the Police Station, A.C. Zone, Dharamshala and lodged a complaint. They carried with them ten currency notes of the denomination of Rs.1,000/- each and produced the same before the police. The currency notes of Rs. 1,000/- each amounting to Rs.10,000/- were treated by the Vigilance Police with phenolphthalein powder and their numbers were noted down and handed over to the complainant asking him to give the same to the accused on demand with a direction to not to tamper with the same in any manner. The police asked Ashwani Bhatia (PW-3) to act as a shadow witness and requested him to go to the office of the appellant with the complainant and give signal to them as and when the bribe money stood paid. (f) Thereafter, the members of the raiding party (Vigilance Police) took shelter near the office of the accused. At about 6.55 p.m., after receiving signal from the shadow witness, the raiding party caught hold of the appellant. The appellant was asked to produce the currency notes taken by him as bribe and the same had been taken out from the right pocket of his pant. The number of the currency notes were got tallied as the same which were shown to the police earlier. The appellant was arrested and grounds of arrest intimated to him. The case was committed to the Court of Special Judge, Kangra at Dharamshala. (g) Vide judgment dated 16.10.2008, the Special Judge, on perusal of the record, held the appellant guilty and convicted him for the offences punishable under Sections 7 and 13(2) of the P.C. Act. Vide order dated 03.11.2008, the Special Judge sentenced the appellant to undergo Rigorous Imprisonment (RI) for two years and to pay a fine of Rs.10,000/-, in default, to further undergo simple imprisonment for 6 months. (h) Being aggrieved, the appellant preferred an appeal being Criminal Appeal No. 713 of 2008 before the High Court of Himachal Pradesh. The High Court, by impugned judgment dated 08.09.2011, partly allowed the appeal and set aside the conviction under Section 7 of the P.C. Act and confirmed the same under Section 13(2) of the said Act. (i) Aggrieved by the said order of the High Court, the appellant preferred this appeal by way of special leave petition.;