M.T.JOSHI,J. - (1.) Heard both sides.
(2.) Aggrieved by the recording of conviction for the offences punishable under section 7 and 13 (1) (d) read with section 13 (2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, the present appeal is preferred by the original accused. The appellant/accused was directed to suffer rigorous imprisonment for six months and one year and to pay a fine of Rs.50/, respectively on each count. Both the substantive sentences were directed to run concurrently.
(3.) The prosecution case, in short, is as under: That, PW5 Bhanudasrao Sonwane, Police Inspector of Anti Corruption Bureau, Aurangabad learnt that some traffic police officials were extracting money from the drivers of the vehicles passing through Aurangabad under the threat that if the money was not paid, they would prosecute them. None of the drivers was coming forward to lodge complaint. Hence, the investigating officer himself thought that he should nab them in the public. Therefore on 30th March, 2000, he requisitioned three public servants from various offices, which included PW2 Gangadhar Thombre, PW3 Kachru Bhalerao and one Mr. Raut. Out of them, PW2 Gangadhar Thombre was projected as complainant and the rest of the persons were decided to be the panch witnesses. The investigating officer himself spared an amount of Rs. 400/for using it as decoy money. The anthracene powder was applied to the decoy money. Panch witness PW2 Gangadhar Thombre was directed to proceed by a truck along with another panch witness PW3 Kachru Bhalerao. They were also provided with a tape recorder loaded with a cassette so that the conversation, if any with traffic police official who would demand bribe can be recorded. The panchanama of all these activities was recorded. Thereafter, the raiding party proceeded to Beed bye-pass. At that time, they found mini truck bearing registration no. MH16/B2003 was proceeding from Aurangabad town. It was carrying certain passengers. The driver Vishnu Jive was driving the same while owner Ashruba Jive was travelling by the said goods tempo. The investigating officer requested both of them to help him in his mission. Accordingly, PW2 Gangadhar Thombre and PW3 Kachru Bhalerao boarded in the cabin of the truck. Some of the members of raiding party sat in the truck as passengers. The mini truck proceeded through Beed bye-pass road. Near Mahanubhav Ashram at about 7.00 p.m., two traffic police officials stopped the truck and allowed to proceed further. Thereafter, one police constable in uniform asked the driver to stop the mini truck near Walmi stop. Vishnu, the truck driver stopped the truck and went towards said police constable. PW2 Gangadhar Thombre joined them posing himself to be owner of the truck. Another panch witness PW3 Kachru Bhalerao also joined them. The present appellant/accused examined the driving license of Vishnu made enquiry as to what was loaded in the truck. When he found that the persons were being taken, he made a demand of Rs.150/towards fine amount and Rs.100/towards entry fees. Upon that, PW2 Gangadhar Thombre took one currency note of Rs.100/from the tainted notes and handed over the same to the appellant/accused. He collected the same and put it in his right fists. Thereupon, PW2 Thombre gave signal to the raiding party on which investigating officer and other members of the raiding party rushed there. The currency note was taken away from the fists of the appellant by PW3 Kachru Bhalerao. Thereafter, the next of the exercise of the examining of the person and the relevant part of the cloths of the witness and the appellant/accused was carried which confirmed the above activities. Thereupon, the complaint was lodged at exhibit 19 with Chhavni Police Station. The investigating officer took over the investigation. He recorded the statements of the witnesses and sent a requisition for grant of sanction to prosecute the present appellant. Accordingly, PW1 Prakash Shegaonkar, the then Deputy Commissioner of Police, Aurangabad accorded the sanction to prosecute the appellant at exhibit 10 and thereafter, the charge-sheet came to be filed.;