- (1.) THE present appeal has been filed by the appellant against the judgment of conviction and sentence dated 23- 11-2005 passed in R.C. Case No. 21(A)/94 (R) by the Special Judge, C.B.I. Ranchi, whereby, the appellant has been convicted under Sections 7 and 13(2) read with 13(1) (d) of the P.C. Act and has been sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for two years under Section 7 of the P.C. Act and further sentenced to pay a fine of Rs. 4,000/- in case of default further to undergo simple imprisonment for one month. THE appellant is further sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for three years under Section 13(2) read with 13(1) (d) of the P.C. Act and sentenced to pay a fine of Rs. 6,000/- in case of default further to undergo simple imprisonment for two months. All the sentences were ordered to run concurrently.
(2.) THE case of the prosecution in short is that the complainant Faiyaz Bihari had deposited Bank Guarantee of one Lakh rupees along with an application on 19.9.1994 for whole sale Trade of Coal in the C.C.L. and requested Sri Bhubneshwar Jha, dealing assistant to process his application and the said dealing assistant asked him to come after 10 to 12 days. It is further alleged that on 3-10- 1994 the complainant met with Bhubneshwar Jha in his office and asked him about his work, then he told the complainant that his application will be sent to Legal Section of C.C.L. as per the procedure of C.C.L and the Bank Guarantee will be verified from the Bank and thereafter, D.O. will be issued from the Sales Department. THE accused-appellant also asked the complainant to pay Rs. 200/- (two hundred) for processing. THE complainant asked the accused-appellant to do his work without taking any money but he told that without taking money, he will not process his paper. THE complainant did not want to give bribe to Bhubneshwar Jha, so he made a complaint to the S.P., C.B.I. Ranchi. The allegations in the written complaint submitted by the complainant were verified and after its confirmation, F.I.R. was regis crimitered. Thereafter, in order to catch hold of the appellant, the C.B.I. arranged a trap. After observing the pre-trap observation, Rs. 200/- (two G.C. notes of 100 denominations) brought by the complainant was tainted with Phenolphthalein Powder in presence of witnesses and a preliminary memo was prepared which was signed by the independent witnesses, complainant and all other members of the trap team. After completing the pre-trap formalities, the trap party including the independent witnesses and the complainant namely Faiyaz Bihari proceeded for going to C.C.L. Office at about 12.30 P.M. and reached there at about 12.35 P.M. and location of the office and topography of area was studied. The Sales Office of the C.C.L., in which Bhubneshwar Jha was working, was situated near the main gate of entrance of the C.C.L. Office in the right hand side, adjacent to the State Bank of India. The trap team members and witness Sri S.B. Prasad took their position near the office of the Sales department. Thereafter, the complainant namely Faiyaz Bihari entered into the office and the independent witnesses Sri R.K. Lal and Sri B.N. Singh followed him. The accused-appellant namely Bhubneshwar Jha was sitting in the hall alone though there was another table also for other assistants. The complainant-Faiyaz Bihari approached the accused Bhubneswar Jha and sat on a chair lying vacant towards left side of the accused and they talked about 5 minutes and thereafter, accused Bhubneshwar Jha extended his left hand and the complainant took out the tainted G.C. Note and paid to the accused. Accused Bhubneshwar Jha transferred the G.C. note in his right hand and after being satisfied that there is Rs. 200/ -, kept the G.C. Note in between some files in the right side of the lower drawer of his table. The acceptance of bribe amount was seen by the witnesses namely R.K. Lal and B.N. Singh. The complainant gave pre-fixed signal and on getting signal, the members of trap team and the witnesses rushed towards the accused-appellant. Sri N. Jha, Dy. S.P. after disclosing his identity, challenged Sri Bhubneshwar Jha accused-appellant for having demanded and accepted Rs. 200/- from the complainant. Accused Bhubneshwar Jha turned pale but he explained that Faiyaz Bihari had taken loan of Rs. 200/- from him about 15 days ago and today the same amount has been returned. In the meantime, Sri R.K. Jha came with trap kit and on being asked, he prepared a solution of sodium carbonate in which right hand finger of accused Bhubneshwar Jha was washed in the said solution and colour of the solution turned pink. This pink solution was transferred into a clean glass bottle which was sealed and signed by all. This bottle was marked "R" for identification. Thereafter, a fresh solution of sodium carbonate was prepared in another tumbler and on being asked, the accused-appellant, Bhubneshwar Jha washed his left hand finger in the said solution and colour of the solution turned pink. This pink solution was transferred in another clean glass bottle and the same was duly sealed and signed by all. This bottle was marked "L" for identification. Thereafter, Bhubneshwar Jha produced Rs. 200/- from lower drawer of his table. The number and denomination of the G.C. Note was compared with the number recorded in pre-trap memorandum by the witnesses which tallied in toto. This G.C. Note of Rs. 200/- were also placed in an envelope which was duly sealed and signed by all. The accused-appellant, Bhubneshwar Jha was taken into custody. On being asked, the accused Bhu-bneshwar Jha took out a folder from the lower drawer of his table over which "Coal centre Chimanpur, (Hatta) Sheohar, Sitamarhi ( Bihar) Faiyaz Bihari, Basahiya Shaikh Piprahi Sitamarhi, 16-9-04" was written. In the meantime, a number of curious colleagues of the accused and private parties assembled and it became inconvenient to proceed further there, as such the trap team along with witnesses, complainant and accused came back to the C.B.I. Office where a memorandum of all the post trap proceeding was prepared.
(3.) THE investigation was taken, statements of the witnesses were recorded, seizure memos were prepared and material exhibits were sent to the Forensic Science Laboratory, Calcutta and thereafter, on receiving the opinion of the expert and on receiving the sanction order for prosecution, the charge- sheet was submitted against the appellant. THE defence of the accused is total denial of the charges and further defence is that the complainant had taken loan from the accused and when he returned the loan amount, he has been falsely implicated in this case. In order to establish the charges against the appellant, altogether 8 witnesses were examined on behalf of the prosecution and several documents were adduced in evidence which were marked as Exhibits. No witness has been examined on behalf of the defence.;