Jitendra Chauhan, J. - (1.) THE present appeal has been filed against the judgment/order dated 20.12.2006, whereby the learned Special Judge, Rupnagar, convicted and sentenced the accused -appellant to undergo rigorous imprisonment for a period of one and half year and to a pay fine of Rs. 1000/ -; in default of payment of fine, to have further undergo RI for two months, under Section 7 read with Section 13(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act. The facts necessary for adjudication of the matter as narrated in para 2 of the impugned judgment are as under: - - "As per the allegations of the prosecution on 24.1.2000, Gurnam Singh son of Jaswant Singh suffered statement before Shri Malwinder Singh Sidhu, DSP Vigilance Bureau, Ropar alleging that he has 6/7 acres of land and has electric motor. The transformer from which they were taking electricity supply has burnt due to some defect and on 21.1.2000 he had met Amandeep Singh JE of the Illaqa for change of transformer who asked that he should collect some money from all the motor owners and should pay t 2000/ - to him as illegal gratification but on his request that he is a poor person, the deal was struck for Rs. 1000/ -. When he told this fact to Narinder Singh son of Bhajan Singh, he stated that they should make complaint to the Vigilance department against Amandeep Singh JE. Accordingly, his statement Ex. PA was recorded by DSP Malwinder Singh Sidhu upon which he made endorsement Ex. PA/2 on the basis of which FIR Ex. PA/3 was recorded. At the time Gurnam Singh visited the office of DSP he produced ten currency notes in the denomination of Rs. 100/ - each before the DSP, the DSP treated them with phenolphthalein powder (for short P -powder) and after making it sure that nothing remains with the complainant, these currency notes were handed over to him after noting its numbers with a direction that these currency notes are to be given to Amandeep Singh JE in case he demands the same and Nirmal Singh was appointed as shadow witness with a direction to hear the conversation between Amandeep Singh and Gurnam Singh and in case any illegal gratification is demanded by Amandeep Singh, then he will give the signal to the raiding party. Its memo Ex. PC was prepared. Demonstration of P -powder was also given by taking a glass of water in which sodium carbonate was mixed and on stirring, there was no change in the colour, then some P -powder was put on a piece of paper and it was put in the glass of water and its colour changed to light pink and after that the said solution was destroyed and its memo Ex. PB was prepared. Then raiding party was organized, Dr. Surjit Kumar and Harjit Kumar were joined as official witnesses and the raiding party left for Chakaur Sahib. The complainant and shadow witness were sent to the office of accused and after some time raiding party received the signal from shadow witness. Then the raiding party went there and DSP Malwinder Singh gave his identity to the accused and apprised the accused about the vigilance raid against him. The officials of Vigilance caught hold of Amandeep Singh from his arms and the complainant told that the accused after taking illegal gratification has put the currency notes in the pocket of his pant. Then a glass of water was called in which sodium carbonate was put and on stirring, there was no change in the colour of water and then the accused was asked to dip fingers of his hand in that water as a result of which the colour of the water changed to light pink, it was put in a nip, sealed with the seal MSS and taken into police possession vide memo Ex. PE. From the personal search of the pant of accused from left side pocket, ten currency notes of denomination of Rs. 100/ - each were recovered, these were handed over to Dr. Surjit Kumar who tallied the numbers of currency notes with already prepared memo which were taken into police possession vide memo Ex. PD. Then a trouser was arranged and left side pocket of pant of the accused was put in the solution of sodium carbonate and on washing its colour changed to light pink. The solution was put in a nip, sealed with the seal MSS and taken into police possession vide memo Ex. PF. From the personal search of the accused currency notes of Rs. 800/ - and other articles were recovered which were taken into police possession vide memo Ex. PG, site plan of the place of recovery was prepared Ex. PW -11/A, SDO was called for and he told that the officials are on strike and the record will not be available today, then the room in which the record was lying was sealed by the DSP and its memo Ex. PW -11/B was prepared, then another letter was sent to SDO Ram Saran Bangar to report whether the transformer of complainant has been changed or not and Harwinder Singh JE made a report that no transformer has been changed at the spot on the application Ex. PW -11/D. Then another application Ex. PW -11/E was given to report whether JE Amandeep Singh was on strike or not, on which JE Sada Ram made a report that he was not on strike. On the next day, accused was again taken to Chamkaur Sahib and in the presence of Karnail Singh SDO and Bahadur Singh peon and in the presence of SDO Karnail Singh seal was broken by peon Bahadur Singh and from the Almirah SR and SRW book were recovered and there was report about burning of transformer. In register SR on its page No. 44 there was entry about issuance of transformer vide road voucher to get new transformer and voucher was issued on 21.1.2000. These documents were taken into police possession vide memo Ex. PW -5/D. Then service record of accused was taken. The nips were went to FSL Punjab Chandigarh who vide their report Ex. PG found that contents of nips are that of sodiumn ions, carbonate ions and phenolphthalein, prosecution sanction of accused was obtained and on completion of investigation, report under Section 173 Cr.P.C. was filed in the Court."
(2.) THE accused -appellant was charged for the commission of offence punishable under Section 7 read with Section 13(2) of the Act, to which, he did not plead guilty and claimed trial. In order to substantiate the charge, the prosecution has examined as many as eleven witnesses i.e. PW1 Gurnam Singh, complainant, PW2, Nirmal Singh, who corroborated the version of the complainant, PW3, Constable Sajjan Singh, a formal witness, who took the sample nip to the office of FSL, Punjab Chandigarh, PW4 Dr. Surjit Kumar, Medical Officer, member of the police party and shadow witness, PW5 Karnail Singh, SSE, Grid Maintenance, PW6 Mehar Singh LDC, PSEB, Ropar, PW7 Ramesh Kama, Senior Assistance in the office of GM, Ropar Thermal Plant, who produced the service record of Amandeep Singh, PW8 Shashi Kumar, Senior Assistant, Office of Chief Engineer, Operation PSEB, Patiala, who proved the sanction for the prosecution of the accused, PW9 C. Sham Lal, formal witness, PW10 HC Gurbhej Singh, formal witness, PW11 Malwinder Singh Sidhu, Investigating Officer, and closed its evidence.
(3.) WHEN examined under Section 313 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, the accused -appellant stoutly denied all the incriminating circumstances appearing in the prosecution evidence against him and pleaded false implication stating that it was a case of theft of electricity and fine of Rs. 700/ - was imposed upon the complainant, therefore, the complainant had been nursing a grudge against the accused. In defence, he examined DW1 Salim Mohamad, RA Operation, PSEB, Chamkaur Sahib, DW2 Tarsem Lal Chaudhary, SDO, DW3 Gurmit Singh, DW4 Harvinder Singh SDO, DW5 Chetan Kumar, Cashier, PSEB, Chamkaur Sahib and DW6 Gurnam Singh, Cashier of office of Chief Director, Vigilance Bureau, Punjab Chandigarh.;