- (1.) This is a criminal appeal against the judgment and order of conviction dated 19-5-1981 passed by Sri R. C. Agarwal, the then Special Judge, Deoria convicting the ac-cused'appellants Surendra Sahai, and Prabhu Nath under Section 161 IPC and Section 5(2) of the prevention of Corruption Act and Sri Kishan appellant under Section 165-A IPC and sentencing RI of one year each under each count.
(2.) The prosecution story briefly stated is as follows : The accused appellants Surendra Sahai and Prabhu Nath were working as Reader and Peon respectively of the Court of Consolidation Officer, Kasia, District Deoria. On the instructions of the Superintendent of Police Vigilance Department Gorakhpur, Vigilance Inspector Chandra Shushan Tripathi PW-3 along with Ram Prasad Pathak PW-1 and constable Vijai Shankar PW-4 raided the Court of Consolidation Officer on 29-4-1977 at about 2 p.m. There they found the accused appellant Sri Kishan, who was a litigant LN/BO/A845/96/HVM/PNM giving bribe of Rs. 1-4-0 to Surendra Sahai, Reader and Prabhu Nath Peon. The prosecution claimed that the accused appellant Surendra Sahai kept one rupee with him and gave four Annas to the accused appellant Prabhu Nath Peon. Prabhu Nath peon ran away from the Court premises the accused appellant Surendera Sahai and Sri Nishan were apprehended on spot and were taken to police station Kasia where Inspector Chandra Bhushan Tripathi lodged first information report Ex. Ka-12. After obtaining proper sanction of the Settlement Officer regarding prosecution of Surendra Sahai and Prabhu Nath, the accused appellants were prosecuted and convicted as aforesaid, hence the appeal.
(3.) I have heard Sri. P. N. Misra, learned counsel for the accused appellant and Sri Amarjeet Singh AGA for the State, considered theirconten-tions and gone through the facts and circumstances of the case.;