Mahesh Bhagwati, J. - (1.) Accused-respondent Bishan Singh was put to trial before Special Judge (Prevention of Corruption Cases), Jaipur, who vide judgment dated February 13, 1996 acquitted the respondent in the offences under Sections 7 and 13 (i)(d) read with Section 13 (2) of Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 (hereinafter referred to 'Act 1988'). The nub of the appellant's story is:- That Shri Bali Ram resident of Jaisinghpura gave a gift deed of his land in favour of his adopted son PW-1 Prem Singh who had got the mutation done in his name. It is alleged that the complainant Prem Singh, thereafter, met Patwari of his area, Bishan Singh for the mutation with regard to the land situated in Halka Bharu. In the beginning, the concerned Patwari Bishan Singh evaded his request but after many meetings, he solicited for a bribe of Rs. 100/-. The complainant Prem Singh had obtained a decree from the court and he wanted the mutation of the land in his name on the basis of compromise decree. On September 3, 1989, when the complainant Prem Singh again met the accused Bishan Singh, he repeatedly solicited for a bribe of Rs. 100/- explaining that out of it Rs. 50/- would be paid to Land Record Inspector (Girdawar). Since the complainant did not intend to give the bribe money to the accused and wanted an action to be taken against him, he submitted a written complaint Ex.P/1 before Dy.S.P., RSBI, Sikar. PW-11 Shri Phool Chand, the then Inspector RSBI, Sikar formulated a scheme for entrapping the accused Bishan Singh. He co-opted two independent witnesses PW- 3 Shri Bhivaram and PW-4 Bhagirath Mal. The complainant Prem Singh gave three currency notes each of the denomination of Rs. 20/- and two currency notes each of the denomination of Rs. 10/- whereupon, Shri Phool Chand got the phenoptheline powder applied and returned the same to the complainant with the direction that he would give these currency notes, on demand, to the accused Bishan Singh. The trap party accordingly reached the office of Tehsildar, Jhunjhunu where in a room, the accused Bishan Singh was sitting along with other patwaris who had assembled to attend the meeting. The complainant gave the settled amount to the accused who kept them in his pocket. On getting a signal from the complainant, the trap party caught the accused Bishan Singh red handed with the currency notes albeit he had thrown them which were collected from the floor by PW-4 Shri Bhagirath Mal at the instance of Phool Chand. Having completed the usual proceedings of trap, PW-11 Phool Chand recovered the bribe money vide memo Ex.P/3, lodged the FIR Ex.P/10, recorded the statements of the witnesses under Section 161, collected the relevant documents, drew necessary memos and obtained a sanction Ex.P/6 from District Magistrate, Jhunjhunu to prosecute the accused and after usual investigation sent the accused to the competent court for trial.
(2.) The accused Bishan Singh was indicted for the offences under Sections 7 and 13 (1)(d) read with Section 13 (2) of Act 1988, who pleaded not guilty and claimed trial. In order to further its version, the prosecution examined as many as 13 witnesses. In his explanation under Section 313 of Cr.P.C. the accused claimed innocence and submitted that neither he solicited for a bribe of Rs. 100/- nor obtained bribe from the complainant Prem Singh. Since Virender Kumar had filed a case against the complainant Prem Singh which he reported to Tehsildar who had ordered against him, the decoy got annoyed with him and for this reason, he implicated him in this case. The accused has produced four witnesses in defence. On completion of trial, the accused was acquitted by the court as indicated here in above.
(3.) Heard the learned Public Prosecutor appearing for the State, learned counsel for the accused-respondent and with their assistance scanned the material available on record.;