- (1.)THE appellant, Baj Mohd., was convicted for an offence under section 5 (2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 2006, and sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for six months and to pay a fine of Rs. 100/ - and in default to further undergo one months rigorous imprisonment, by the Special Judge Anti Corruption Jammu vide his judgment dated 31 -3 -78. Aggrieved by his conviction and sentence, the appellant has come up to this court.
(2.)BRIEFLY stated the prosecution case as emerging from the evidence of Puran Singh P.W. 1, against the appellant is that he (the appellant) was working as a forest guard in Rakh Manda. On 25 -2 -76, Babu Singh P. W. 2, Krishen Singh, had gone to Rakh Ramnagar, to eat berries, when the appellant held them up on the allegation that they had caused damage to the forest. While Krishan Singh remained under detention at the Forest Check Post, Manda, Babu Singh was sent to bring Rs. 50/ - as bribe. Babu Singh P. . 2, accordingly went home and told his father Puran Singh PW 1 to arrange for payment of Rs. 50/ -to the appellant Puran Singh P.W. 1 consequently went to the appellant. The appellant demanded Rs. 50/ - as bribe from him for releasing his son. Ultimately the deal was settled at Rs. 30/ -. Puran Singh P.W. 1 did not have the money with him at that time. He, therefore, left his driving licence, as his security against the amount of Rs. 30/ - with the appellant and secured the release of his son and Krishan. On being advised by some body later on, Puran Singh lodged a report, Exhibit PE, with Shri Amrik Chand Gupta, Dy. S.P. (Anti Corruption Organization) Jammu complaining against the demand. A trap was arranged by Shri Amrik Chand Gupta, Dy. S.P. Puran Singh produced Rs. 30/ - in three currency notes of the domination of Rs. 10/ - each before him. He noted down the numbers of those currency notes. Shri Sat Dev Khajuria PW 3 and Rajinder Kumar P.W. 4 were then sent for by the Dy. S.P. and joined with the raid party. Devi Dayal P.W. 8 a constable of the Anti Corruption Organisation was detailed to act as a shadow witness. It was decided that on receiving a signal from the complainant ,after paying the bribe money to .the appellant, the shadow witness was to pass on the signal to the police party. The complainant narrated the story to Sat Dev and Rajinder Kumar PWs also before leaving for the raid. The raid party thereafter left for the spot in a jeep. The party alighted from the jeep at the petrol pump, near Manda, Jammu. Puran Singh PW 1 went ahead and was followed by Devi Dayal P.W. 8 and professor Rajinder Kumar P.W. 4. Puran Singh P.W. 1 went to the Forest Quarters and met the appellant, in the verandah of his quarter. On being asked to pay the amount Puran Singh demanded his licence. The appellant thereupon delivered the licence to Puran Singh, who in turn paid the money to the appellant. The complainant then as previously decided rubbed his head with his hand and the signal was passed on by Devi Dayal P.W. to the other members of their aiding party. The raiding party on getting the signal reached the spot at once. The appellant was searched and from his shirt pocket three currency notes, in the denomination of Rs. 10/ - each besides some more money and papers were recovered. The numbers of those three notes tallied with the numbers noted down by the Dy. S.P. earlier. The notes were seized. One Guard Book was also seized from the appellant by the police.
(3.)IN his statement recorded under section 342 Cr.P.C. the appellant denied that he had received any bride and set up a counter version. According to the version of the appellant, Babu Singh P.W. 2 and one other person, had caused some damage to the forest on 22nd Feb. 76. Babu Singh P.W. and his friend had been caught red handed by him and Shaft, Forest Guard at about 6 P.M. They had also seized from Babu Singh P.W. 2 an axe and two pieces of jungle wood. They brought Babu Singh and his friend to the check post and sent Ram Lal, Forest Guard to inform the Range Officer. Ram Lal accordingly went and on his return he informed that the Range Officer was not available at his house. Leaving Ram Lal, at the check post the appellant and Shan, went to the house of the Range Officer and on learning that he (Range Officer) had gone to the house of his sister in Mohalla Rehari, they proceeded to that house and met the Range Officer and apprised him about the matter, at about 12 Oâ„¢clock at night. The Range Officer advised the appellant and the Forest Guard that they should ask the forester to assess the damage and to recover the damage from Babu Singh. They accordingly returned. Thereafter Puran Singh father of Babu Singh came to the check post and was apprised of the damage caused by Babu Singh. He told the appellant that he would settle the compensation for the damage, with the forester in the morning and that he should in the meanwhile permit Babu Singh to go with him. As a security for the payment of compensation, Puran Singh P.W. left his driving licence with the appellant. Next morning the appellant went to the forester and apprised him of the matter and also showed him the driving licence. The appellant told the forester that Puran Singh P.W. would come at 9 A.M. and asked the forester to come there. The forester accordingly came to the check post and waited for Puran Singh P.W. who, however, did not turn up. The forester assessed the compensation for the damage caused by Babu Singh P.W. at Rs. 30/ - and told the appellant to collect the amount. Later en, Puran Singh met the appellant and told him that he would come the next day i.e. 24 -2 -76 and would pay the assessed compensation. The appellant waited for Puran Singh on 24 -2 -76 but he never came. Puran Singh P.W. came at about 10.00 A.M. on 25 -2 -76 and the appellant told him to make an application and pay the compensation of Rs. 30/ - and receive back his licence. Puran Singh P.W. went away with a promise to return and returned at about 12 Noon and told the appellant that he had loaded his truck and required his licence. He also told the appellant that he had no time to write the application and that he would give the application later on. He, however, paid him Rs. 30/ -and received back his driving licence. At that time, two persons were standing near the verandha when the appellant received the money. Simultaneously a raid was conducted and on the asking of the raid party, he handed over the currency notes of Rs. 30/ - which he had received from Puran Singh to them and also informed them that he had received that amount of Rs. 30/ -, as compensation for the damage, caused to the forest by Babu Singh P.W. son of the complainant and not by way of bribe and that the amount belonged to the Government and not to him.
In defence the appellant examined Ram Lal, Mohd Shafi and Sangeet Singh as his witnesses.