TMI Blog2010 (11) TMI 1135X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... on 13(1)(d)(ii) read with Section 13(2) of the Act. Both the substantive sentences were directed to run concurrently. 2. Aggrieved by the same he preferred appeal and High Court by its judgment dated 29th of July, 2005 passed in Criminal Appeal No. 499 of 1999 had affirmed the conviction and sentence of the appellant and dismissed the appeal. Aggrieved by the same the appellant has preferred this appeal with the leave of the court. 3. According to the prosecution, the appellant at the relevant time was posted as Deputy Chief Engineer, Railway Electrification, South Central Railway, Vijaywada. PW-1, M. Venka Reddy (hereinafter referred to as the 'contractor'), during the years 1992-1994, was awarded the contracts of railway electrification between railway stations Bhongir and Sanathnagar and Maulali and Sanathnagar bypass under agreement No. 29 dated 3.4.1992 and agreement No. 41 dated 20.11.1992 respectively. Further by agreement No. 3 dated 18th October, 1994 work to provide height gauges at railway crossing between Vijayawada and Gannavaran was awarded to him. According to the prosecution the contractor completed the works to the satisfaction of the railway authorit ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... o be tried. In order to bring home the charge, prosecution had examined altogether seven witnesses and got exhibited a large number of documents. Out of the witnesses examined by the prosecution PW-1, M. Venka Reddy is the contractor, whereas PW-2, G.T. Kumar is a shadow witness, PW-7, S.B. Shankar, at the relevant time was Inspector of the Central Bureau of Investigation, who had conducted the pre-trap exercise and laid the trap in which appellant was apprehended after he had accepted the bribe. The plea of the appellant in his statement under Section 313 of the Code of Criminal Procedure is of false implication due to enmity with the contractor. In order to prove the defence, he had examined DW-1, Bodh Raj Sharma, Chief Administrative Officer, Construction as defence witness. 5. The trial court on appreciation of the evidence came to the conclusion that the prosecution has been able to prove its case beyond all reasonable doubt. While doing so it considered the defence version and rejected the same. Accordingly the appellant was convicted and sentenced as above by the trial court, which has been affirmed in appeal by the High Court. 6. Mr. Nagendra Rai, learned Senior Couns ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... livered the tainted notes. Appellant kept them in the right trouser's pocket. After the signal PW.7, S.B. Shanker Inspector of the Central Bureau of Investigation came and sodium carbonate test was conducted on the right hand fingers and the right trousers pocket and the solution turned pink. 8. PW. 7, S.B. Shanker, Inspector of the Central Bureau of Investigation had stated in his evidence that on 19th April, 1995 he received a complaint against the appellant of demanding illegal gratification from the contractor and he conducted a pre-trap proceedings on 20th April, 1995 at about 8 a.m. in the presence of PW.2, G.T. Kumar and others. He has further stated that he laid the trap on the same day at 11.45 a.m. and recovered the tainted currency notes under the office table of the appellant when the appellant had thrown the said notes on being questioned by him. In the face of the specific and positive evidence of these witnesses which cannot be said to be inherently improbable, the plea of the appellant that the prosecution case is fit to be rejected on the ground of improbability does not appeal to us. It is accordingly rejected. 9. As regards the decision of this Court in ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ch it held as follows: The corroboration essential in a case like this for what actually transpired at the time of the alleged occurrence and acceptance of bribe is very much wanting in this case. Even the other panch witness, PW 5 categorically admitted that even as the Inspector of Police, PW 6 arrived, the appellant gave the same version that PW 1 tried to force into her hands the currency note which she turned down by pushing it away, and his evidence also does not lend credibility to the case of the prosecution. The contradictory version of PW 1 of the very incident when earlier examined in departmental proceedings renders his testimony in this case untrustworthy. PW 3, the Head Copyist, seems to be the brain behind all this and that PW 1 as well as Jagdish Bokade appear to be working as a group in this affair and despite the blunt denial by PW 3, his closeness to PW 1 and Jagdish Bokade stands well substantiated. All these relevant aspects of the case seem to have been completely overlooked by the courts below. We do not find any substance in the submission of Mr. Rai. The word accomplice has not been defined under the Evidence Act and therefore presumed to have been ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... hadow witness did accompany the contractor but the appellant did not allow him to be present in the chamber. Acceptance of this submission in abstract will encourage the bribe taker to receive illegal gratification in privacy and then insist for corroboration in case of prosecution. Law can not countenance such situation. In our opinion it is not necessary that the evidence of a reliable witness is necessarily to be corroborated by another witness. Not only this corroboration of the evidence of a witness can be found from the other materials on record. Here in the present case there does not seem any reason to reject the evidence of the contractor PW.1, M. Venka Reddy. His evidence is further corroborated by the evidence of the shadow-witness PW.2, G.T. Kumar. The shadow-witness has stated in his evidence that when he entered in the chamber, appellant was asked by the Inspector as to whether he had received any amount from the contractor, he denied and then removed the currency notes from his trouser's pocket and threw the same. He had further stated that sodium carbonate test was conducted in which the solution turned pink when the appellant's fingers and the right side tr ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... he facts and circumstances brought on the record in their entirety. 15. We do not have the slightest hesitation in accepting the broad submission of Mr. Rai that demand of illegal gratification is sine qua non to constitute the offence under the Act. Further mere recovery of currency notes itself does not constitute the offence under the Act, unless it is proved beyond all reasonable doubt that the accused voluntarily accepted the money knowing it to be bribe. In the facts of the present case, we are of the opinion that both the ingredients to bring the act within the mischief of Sections 7 and 13(1)(d)(ii) of the Act are satisfied. From the evidence led on behalf of the prosecution it is evident that the appellant demanded the money from the contractor as he had passed his bills. There is further evidence that when the contractor went along with the shadow-witness on the date told by the appellant for payment of the bribe, appellant asked the shadow-witness to leave the chamber and thereafter the demand for payment of illegal gratification was made and paid. The positive sodium carbonate test vis- -vis the fingers and right trousers pocket of the appellant go to show that he v ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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