- (1.) This appeal, which has come before us on special leave, is directed against a judgment of a Division Bench of the Allahabad High Court dated the 27th November 1951 by which the learned Judges reversed, on appeal, an order of acquittal made in favour of the appellant by Mr. Srivastava, Magistrate, First Class, Meerut and converting it into one of conviction under section 161 of the Indian Penal Code, sentenced him to rigorous imprisonment for a term of 18 months.
(2.) The appellant is an Excise Inspector under the U. P. Government and was posted at Baghapat Circle of Meerut at the relevant time. The complainant Ghammanlal is a licensed vendor of liquor and drugs in the same area and at the material time he and his brothers had licences for ten shops, seven for the sale of liquor and three for the sale of drugs. The prosecution story is, that on the 22nd March 1948 Ghammanlal approached the appellant with an application, praying, that the latter might recommend him to draw 50 gallons of liquor and 2 seers of Ganja from the bonded warehouse and godown, in view of the Holi festival that was approaching. The accused, it is said, recommended only 8 gallons of liquor and 4 chhataks of Ganja and while making the recommendation he asked Ghammanlal to pay the bribe which he had already promised to pay, at the rate of 5 per cent upon the total amount of contract for the shops. It may be stated here that the excise shops had been put up to auction about a fortnight before, on the 8th of March 1948 and though Ghammanlal had offered higher bids for some of these shops, his bids were not accepted on the complaint of the accused, that he was a habitual defaulter in the matter of payments, and a big shop for which he had offered bid to the extent of Rs. 32,000/- was knocked down to another person at a much lower price. On the 23rd March 1948 Ghammanlal went to Meerut to draw liquor from the warehouse. Here he met his friend one Balwant Singh who, being acquainted with the appellant's demand for bribe from Ghammanlal, advised him to contact the Anti-Corruption Department and make a complaint to them against the accused. Accordingly they both went to the Anti-Corruption Department at about 11 A.M. and met the Under Officer one Arshad Ali, who asked them to come later, as the Deputy Superintendent of Police had not arrived then. Both of them went to the Collectorate and there met the accused. Ghammanlal entreated the accused to recommend him a larger quantity of liquor. The appellant replied that he would recommend more if he was paid the bribe. Ghammanlal promised to pay him money after taking liquor from the godown. Upon this the application, upon which 8 gallons of liquor were sanctioned already, was torn off and a fresh application was made and this time the accused recommended 24 gallons of liquor and demanded bribe at the rate of Rs. 1 per gallon. The complainant and Balwant Singh left the place promising to pay the money within three hours. They went to the Anti-Corruption Department and met the Under Officer as well as the Deputy Superintendent of Police and told them all about the talk they had with the appellant. Ghammanlal said that he would be paying Rs. 50/- as bribe and gave that amount in currency notes to Arshad Ali. Ghammanlal's statement was recorded by the Deputy Superintendent of Police and they planned a trap to catch the appellant. The District Magistrate was approached and he gave a slip to one Mr. Burnye, a First Class Magistrate, to get the notes signed by the Additional District Magistrate and arrest the accused while accepting the bribe. As the Additional District Magistrate was not available, the notes were signed by the District Magistrate himself. Agreeably to these instructions Mr. Burney came to the Anti-Corruption Department and prepared a list, noting down the numbers of the currency notes. A party was formed consisting of Burney, Ghammanlal, his friend Balwant, Arshad Ali Inspector Raghubir Dayal and other members of the staff. On reaching the house of the appellant Ghammanlal and Mr. Burney went inside the house while others remained outside, concealing their presence. Mr. Burney was in changed dress and Ghammanlal introduced him to the accused as his brother or cousin and asked the accused to enter his name in the Binauli shop. The prosecution story is that Ghammanlal then asked the appellant to settle his accounts. The accused looked into the register of Ghammanlal and, asked him to pay Rs. 48/8 on different counts. Ghammanlal paid Rs. 48/- to the accused which the latter accepted and kept the notes on the window-sill. Ghammanlal then went outside and gave a signal to those who were waiting there and the whole party came immediately rushing into the room. Mr. Burney after disclosing his identity picked up the currency notes from the window- sill and noted down the statements of Ghammanlal as well as of the accused. The house of the appellant was searched but nothing incriminating was found. On the same day Burney submitted a report about the trap to the District Magistrate.
(3.) After the police investigation was complete, the accused was sent up for trial under section 161 of the Indian Penal Code and the case was tried by Mr. Srivastava a First Class Magistrate of Meerut. The accused pleaded not guilty to the charge and denied having ever demanded or accepted any bribe. His defence in substance was, that Ghammanlal was on inimical terms with him. Because of the complaint which the accused had made against him to the Excise Officer and Assistant Excise Commissioner he was not allowed to offer bids for the big shops at the auction sale which took place on the 8th March 1948. As a matter of fact even the higher bid of Ghammanlal was not accepted and the shop for which he made the bid was knocked down to another person at a much lower price. Naturally Ghammanlal harboured a bitter resentment against the accused whom he considered to be responsible for the loss of his business and it was to satisfy his grudge and get him implicated in this bribery case that the complainant in conjunction with Balwant Singh, who was an ex-convict and a close friend of his, lodged a false complaint with the Anti-Corruption Department and persuaded the latter to believe that the accused had really demanded bribes from him. The accused said that he knew Mr. Burney, who was Magistrate in charge of the Nazarat and the Arms Act Department, perfectly well and could not possibly mistake him for a brother or counsin of Ghammanlal. On the 23rd March Ghammanlal did come to his house along with Mr. Burney. The accused saluted Mr. Burney and requested him to take tea and other things. After some time Ghammanlal took out some money from his pocket and placed it on the window-sill. Immediately afterwards he ran out coughing and some people of the anti-Corruption Department, who were waiting outside, rushed into the room. Mr. Burney prepared a list and compelled the accused to sign it. In his statement the accused plainly stated that Ghammanlal took out money from his pocket and kept it in the window-sill and he did not know how much money it was. The defence case further was that as a matter of fact under a circular issued by the Excise Department the accused was collecting subscriptions, from all licensed liquor shops within his jurisdiction as contributions towards the refugee fund. The subscription were fixed at Rs. 10/- per shop and Ghammanlal, having been in possession of seven shops, his subscription was fixed at Rs. 70. He had paid Rs. 22 already on the 3rd of February 1948 and Rs. 48 was still due to him. As the sum of Rs. 48 was still owing by Ghammanlal, he placed only that amount of money before the accused thinking that the accused would accept the same, taking it to be payment of the balance of the subscription that was still due by the complainant.;