- (1.) P. P. Gupta, J. These are three connected cases filed by Ved Ram and Murari Lal.
(2.) THE appellant Ved Ram, who was peon in the court of S. D. M. , Hathras has been convicted under Section 161, I. P. C. and Section 5 (2), Prevention of Corruption Act, 1947 and has been sentenced to 7 days simple im prisonment on each count by the Special Judge, Aligarh in Original case No. 6/9 of 1980 - State v. Ved Ram, Criminal Appeal No. 1093 of 1984 ). The appellant, Murari Lal, who was a public man has been convicted under Section 165-A, I. P. C to 7 days simple imprisonment by Special Judge, Aligarh for giving bribe to the co-accused Ved Ram (Criminal Appeal No, 1137 of 1984 ). He has also filed Criminal Revision No. 656 of 1984 against the same order dated 3-4-1984 passed by Special Judge, Aligarh. The case of the prosecution as narrated by Labh Chandra Sharma, PW I, Inspector Vigilance Sector, Kanpur is that on 17-1-78 Sri D. K. Pande, Supdt. of Police, U. P. Vigilance, Establishment, Kanpur passed an order, Ex. Ka-1, for the purpose of laying traps. This order of the S. P. Vigilance Kan pur was notified on 31-1-76 vide Ex. Ka-3. On 24-1-1978 PW 1 along with Inspector Nathu Singh, Constable Rajendra Prasad Tewari and Constable Gaya Prasad reached Hathras and enquired about the corruption prevailing therein the courts of S. D. M. etc. and came to know that there was wide spread corruption in the courts amongst the peons and the Readers. Thereafter the police party reached the courts and found such activities there. That day at about 4-15 p. m. the S. D. O. /s. D. M. retired to his chamber. The Inspector con tained public men in this connection and one Chaudhary Raj Singh showed his willingness to co- operate. Ved Ram, the peon of the Court, called out the -case Sant Lal v. Umrav, at which one person Murari Lal accused approached Ved Ram and enquired about the date fixed in that case. Ved Ram informed him that first he should give him some money and only then he would tell the date. Murari Lal, asked the amount. At this Ved Ram told him that it were rupees two. Murari Lal told him that he would give one rupee only. Ved Ram replied that until he was paid Rs. 2 he would not inform the next date fixed in the case. This conversation was being heard by the police party, in plain clothes, inside the court room. When Muran Lal gave Rs. 2 (Two rupee) one note PW 1 caught hold of the fist of Ved Ram containing two rupees, simultaneously giving the introduction of his party. He then took Ved Ram to the chamber of the S. D. O. holding firmly his fist lost the two notes may not drop down from the hand of Ved Ram. Murari Lal was also arrested by the Police Officer, Nathu Singh, Radha Raman, the Reader of the Court, had gone to the chamber of the S. D. M. prior to this, PW 1 gave the details of the occurrence to Sri V. K. Malik, the S. D. O. / S. D. M. , Hathras and opened the fist of Ved Ram from which currency notes No. A/73293106 and O/8318746 came out. The police party went to the adjoining room to evade crowd for the purposes of completing formalities of recovery and arrest. The recovered currency notes were sealed and a memo was prepared. On a search of Ved Ram Rs. 116 were taken out from the pocket and from the pocket of Murari Lal, Rs. 86 were found. The file of the case Sant Lal v. Umrao was also taken into possession. The memo was read over and was signed by all concerned present and copies were given to the accused. The memo is Ex. Ka-3, Currency notes are Ext. Ka-1 and 2. The envelope in which notes were kept is Ex. 3. Thereafter recovered articles etc and the accused were taken to the police station, where F. I. R. was lodged and a case was registered. On 25-1-78, PW 1 gave a report to S. P. Vigilance, vide Ex. Kha-5. File of the case of Basant v. Umrao is Ex. Kha-lv. After investi gation and necessary formalities of sanction etc. charge sheets were submitted against both the accused.
(3.) BOTH the accused did not plead guilty to the charges and claimed to be tried. To prove its case, the prosecution examined PW 1 Labh Chandra Sharma, Inspector, PW 2 Constable Gaya Prasad, PW 3 Nathu Singh, Inspector, PW 4 Vinod Kumar Mullick S. D. M. , PW 5 Shiv Ratan Singh, Head Constable, PW 6 Ram Prakash Gupta, I. O. and PW 7 Deoki Nandan Sharma, Investigating Officer.;