- (1.)This appeal has been preferred against judgment-dated 10.07.1997 passed by the Special Judge, Sagar in Special Case No.7/92, whereby the appellant was convicted under Section 7 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 (hereinafter referred to as the Act) and sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for 3 years and to pay fine of Rs.1000/- and in default, to suffer R.I. for 3 months.
(2.)By that judgment only, Avadhnarayan (since dead), one of the co-accused, was convicted and sentenced as under - convicted under Section sentenced to 7 of the Act undergo R.I. for 3 years and to pay fine of Rs.1000/- and in default, to suffer R.I. for 3 months. 13(1)(d) read with 13(2) of the Act undergo R.I. for 3 years and to pay a fine of Rs.1000/- and in default, to suffer R.I. for 3 months. with direction that the custodial sentences shall run concurrentlywhereas the other one namely Aniruddha was acquitted of these offences. No appeal has been presented by the State against the order of acquittal and the appeal, filed by Avadhnarayan and registered as Criminal Appeal No.1459/1997, has already been dismissed as abated.
(3.)The prosecution story, in brief, may be narrated thus -
(a) Two years prior to the incident in question, operations of revenue survey were carried out in Village Khaijra Mafi located in the Revenue Circle of Surkhi for settlement of lands situated therein. In the process, areas of agricultural lands held by complainant namely Kunwar Singh (PW5), his parents Siyarani & Veer Singh and co-villager Jwala Prasad (PW4) were reduced by 0.05, 0.60, 0.40 and 0.25 acre respectively. On 12.02.1988, they moved applications, under Section 125 of Madhya Pradesh Land Revenue Code, 1959, before Assistant Settlement Officer, Sagar for correction of the revenue records. The officer, in turn, ordered registration of cases and directed the Revenue Inspector (Settlement) to submit report along with maps. Accordingly, four cases, numbered as 49- A9/1987-88, 50-A9/1987-88 and 51-A9/1987-88 and 48- A9/1987-88, were registered.

(b) On 10.06.1988, the Revenue Inspector viz. co-accused Avadhnarayan submitted reports and the cases were adjourned for 03.08.1988. In the meanwhile, the appellant was posted as the Assistant Settlement Officer. He, even without indicating as to in what respect the report in each case was incomplete, passed orders on 03.08.1988 directing the Revenue Inspector to submit a complete report and Criminal Appeal No. 1427/1997posted the cases on 18.08.1988 for hearing. However, the direction was not complied with and for this purpose, the appellant continued to grant adjournments liberally.

(c) Ultimately, on 24.07.1989, Kunwar Singh and Jwala Prasad approached the appellant who, in presence of coaccused Avadhnarayan, demanded a sum of Rs.400/- as illegal gratification in each case for incorporating necessary correction as well as for issuing a modified lease. He further asked Kunwar Singh to pay the amount to Avadhnarayan for being passed on to him and fixed 02.08.1989 as the date for the purpose.

(d) Not willing to pay the bribe, on 02.08.1989, Kunwar Singh went to the office of Superintendent of Police (Lokayukta), Sagar where he submitted application (Ex.P-2) for initiating necessary action against both the revenue officers. G.S. Jatav, the then in-charge of the office, authorized Nirbhay Singh (PW7), Deputy Superintendent of Police, to register a case and to have a trap arranged. Accordingly, at 2.00 p.m., an FIR, in the form of Dehati Nalishi (Ex.P-15), was recorded and necessary pre-trap formalities were observed in presence of Balkrishna Mathur and Shishir Kumar Shrivastava, posted respectively as Deputy Collector and District Registrar at Sagar only. The DSP took into possession four currency notes each in the denomination of Rs.100/- brought by the complainant Kunwar Singh for the purpose and got them duly treated with phenolphthalein. The tainted currency notes were kept in the shirt pocket of Kunwar Singh, who was directed to give signal by lighting a Bidi after handing over the money to Avadhnarayan.

Criminal Appeal No. 1427/1997(e) At about 4.30 p.m., the trap party along with the complainant reached the appellant's office, located in Shanichari at Sagar, where both the co-accused were found sitting. In response to the corresponding query, Kunwar Singh informed Avadhnarayan that he had brought the bribe money. Thereupon, Avadhnarayan asked him to come out of the office. Accordingly, Kunwar Singh accompanied both the coaccused upto a nearby hotel where he gave the tainted money to Avadhnarayan who, in turn, handed over the same to Aniruddha. At this point of time, Kunwar Singh gave the appointed signal and members of the trap party arrived. The Detecting Officer namely Nirbhay Singh recovered the currency notes from Aniruddha's vest pocket. The phenolphthalein tests conducted on the fingers of both the hands of Avadhnarayan & Aniruddha and the pocket gave positive results. Samples of the corresponding parts of the Sodium Carbonate Solution were duly seized and forwarded to FSL, Sagar. The Report (Ex.P-19) received from the Laboratory also indicated presence of phenolphthalein in the hand washes as well as in the pocket wash.

(f) After completing the investigation and obtaining sanction (Ex.P-1), the charge-sheet was filed before the Special Court at Sagar.