- (1.) This is an appeal brought by Lovely Kumar against the judgment of his conviction for an offence punishable under sections 7 and 13 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 (for short, the Act ) dated 5.7.2004 as also the order on sentence of the same date vide which the following sentence has been awarded to the convict by Special Judge, Amritsar- JUDGEMENT_529_LAWS(P&H)5_2012.htm
(2.) The prosecution case, as unfolded in the judgment under appeal, is as under:- Achhar Singh, the complainant has been working as a peon in the office of Principal, Medical College, Amritsar. He required some money for domestic use. He made an application for withdrawal of Rs. 6,000/- from his General Provident Fund (for short GPF ) account. He met Lovely Kumar, who was working as a Clerk dealing with the GPF of class IV employees, in this regard. Lovely Kumar made a demand of bribe in a sum of Rs. 2,000/- from the complainant for processing his case. Though, the complainant expressed his inability to pay this amount being a poor person, yet on Lovely Kumar telling him that the amount would not be paid to him if he did not pay the bribe, the complainant agreed to pay the amount. He told Lovely Kumar that he would pay the amount demanded as bribe the moment he delivered him the cheque of the advance. The complainant was called by Lovely Kumar to his office on 29.8.2001. He told the complainant that sanction for withdrawal of Rs. 6,000/- from GPF account of the complainant has been received and he demanded Rs. 2,000/- as bribe. The complainant told him that he did not have the money with him on that day and promised the said amount on the next day. The accused obtained signatures of the complainant at two places. The complainant alongwith Jagdish visited Vigilance Bureau, Amritsar on 30.8.2001 and made a statement in this regard to DSP Ranvir Singh. The complainant had handed over one currency note of the denomination of Rs. 500/- and 15 currency notes of the denomination of Rs. 100/- to Ranvir Singh, DSP. Phenolphthalein powder was applied to those currency notes and after noting down the serial numbers of the currency notes, the same were handed over to the complainant. The complainant was told not to shake hands with the accused. Memo of handing over the currency notes was prepared. Jagdish was told to act as a shadow witness. He was instructed to overhear the conversation between the complainant and the accused. Manwinder Singh, Research Officer and Dev Raj, Junior Assistant in the office of Irrigation and Power Research Institute, Amritsar were joined in the trap party as independent witnesses. The demonstration of the reaction of phenolphthalein powder with the solution of sodium carbonate was shown to the complainant and other witnesses. The raiding party boarded a jeep and reached a place near the Medical College, Amritsar. Issuing appropriate instructions to the complainant and the shadow witness, they were sent to Medical College, Amritsar and the remaining members of the raiding party remained outside. After about 10 minutes, the complainant and the shadow witness came out and told Ranvir Singh, DSP that the accused had told them to reach State Bank of India, Ghala Mala Chowk, Majitha Road, Amritsar and that he would follow them shortly. All the members of the raiding party reached State Bank of India, Ghala Mala Chowk, Majitha Road, Amritsar. The complainant and the shadow witness were again reminded about their role and they were sent to the bank. After sometime, accused came there on a scooter and went inside the bank. Shortly thereafter, the shadow witness came out and gave the predetermined signal to the raiding party. Ranvir Singh, DSP alongwith other members of the raiding party entered the bank premises and overpowered the accused. The DSP disclosed his identity to the accused. The accused admitted having received the bribe money from the complainant. The hands of the accused were dipped in a solution of sodium carbonate and its colour turned pink. The said pink hand-wash of the accused was put in a nip and was sealed with the seal bearing impression 'RS'. The tainted money was recovered from the right side pocket of the pant put on by the accused. The same were taken into possession by way of separate recovery memo. Personal search of the accused was then conducted. The accused was asked to take off the pant, the right side pocket of which was dipped in the sodium carbonate solution, the colour of which turned pink. This pocket wash was put in another nip, which was sealed with the same seal. Cheque of Rs. 6,000/- was taken from the complainant and was recovered by way of a recovery memo. The scooter of the accused, its registration certificate and three passbooks were taken into possession. DSP prepared a rough site plan of the place of recovery. Thereafter the raiding party reached Medical College, Amritsar and seized the relevant record from there. The nips were sent to the Forensic Science Laboratory, Chandigarh. After receipt of the report of Forensic Science Laboratory and obtaining sanction to prosecute the accused from the competent authority, challan was prepared.
(3.) Vide order dated 3.4.2002, learned Special Judge, Amritsar framed charge against the accused for an offence punishable under section 7 and 13(2) of the Act. The accused pleaded not guilty and claimed trial.;