AI Drafter 
TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2016 (4) TMI 1285
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....itradurga. On 16.12.1997, PW-1-complainant made an oral complaint before Police Inspector of Lokayukta, Chitradurga alleging that on 09.12.1997, the accused demanded a sum of Rs. 5,000/- as illegal gratification from him for handing over 'No Objection Certificate' (NOC) to process his pension papers and other retiral benefits. Based on the said complaint, PW-12-Police Inspector of Lokayukta registered FIR in Crime No.6/97 against the appellant for the offences punishable under Sections 7, 13(1)(d) read with Section 13(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988. PW-12 made arrangement to lay a trap of the accused on 17.12.1997. On 17.12.1997 at about 10.15-10.25 a.m., the raiding party consisting of the complainant-N.Ramakrishnappa (PW-1) along with Obaiah (PW-2) and R. V. Srinivasa (PW-3) went to the office of the accused. The raiding party and PW-3 were waiting outside the office. PW-1 and PW-2 went to the office and the accused is alleged to have demanded Rs. 5,000/- from PW-1 and PW-1 gave tainted currency note of Rs. 5,000/- and the accused received the money and kept it in a diary and the diary was kept inside his table. On receiving signal from PW-1, the raiding party went ....
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....ppellant-accused has preferred this appeal. 5. Learned counsel for the appellant Mr. Tara Chand Sharma contended that there could not have been any demand of bribe on 09.12.1997 and the High Court failed to appreciate the defence plea that the appellant had not attended the office in Chitradurga from 07.12.1997 to 10.12.1997 on account of his official duty in attending a seminar in Bangalore and that on the evening of 10.12.1997, the appellant alongwith PW-7 had taken delivery of a van allotted to Chitradurga PHE, Sub-Division at Bangalore. It was further contended that the High Court erred in ignoring the testimony of PW-2 who has specifically stated that PW-1 gave a sum of Rs. 5,000/- to the appellant stating that he was returning the money which was taken by PW-1 for purchasing diesel. It was further contended that the High Court failed to properly appreciate the defence plea in the light of evidence adduced by the prosecution and the High Court was not justified in interfering with the order of acquittal recorded by the trial court. 6. Per contra, learned counsel for the State Mr. V.N. Raghupathy submitted that upon appreciation of evidence, the High Court had rightly hel....
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....o establish the demand and acceptance of the illegal gratification by the appellant, we do not propose to delve further on the aspect of 'sanction'. 10. In order to constitute an offence under Section 7 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 'proof of demand' is a sine quo non. This has been affirmed in several judgments including a recent judgment of this Court in B. Jayaraj v. State of Andhra Pradesh (2014) 13 SCC 55, wherein this Court held as under:- "7. Insofar as the offence under Section 7 is concerned, it is a settled position in law that demand of illegal gratification is sine qua non to constitute the said offence and mere recovery of currency notes cannot constitute the offence under Section 7 unless it is proved beyond all reasonable doubt that the accused voluntarily accepted the money knowing it to be a bribe. The above position has been succinctly laid down in several judgments of this Court. By way of illustration reference may be made to the decision in C.M. Sharma v. State of A.P.(2010) 15 SCC 1 and C.M. Girish Babu v. CBI (2009) 3 SCC 779." The same view was reiterated in P.Satyanarayana Murthy v. District Inspector of Police, State of Andhra Pradesh and A....
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....d to the evidence of PW-5-A.M.Prabhakara, working as Executive Engineer, Well Boring Division PHE at Bangalore as he is the competent witness to speak about the appellant's attendance in a seminar in Bangalore on 09.12.1997. Moreover, PW-7-Pampanna, who was working as a Junior Engineer in the Well Boring Sub-Division at Chitradurga has deposed in his cross-examination that he had accompanied the appellant to attend a seminar on 09.12.1997 at Bangalore. PW-7 further stated that on 10.12.1997, the appellant and he took the delivery of a van allotted to PHE Well Boring Sub-Division, Chitradurga and they left Bangalore around 3.00 p.m. and travelled in the said van and reached Chitradurga at 7.30 p.m. on 10.12.1997. 14. Considering the evidence of PWs 4, 5 and 7 coupled with the attendance register marked as Ex.P16, the defence version that the appellant was not present in the office at Chitradurga from 08.12.1997 to 10.12.1997and that he was attending the seminar in Bangalore on 09.12.1997 is highly probablised. In his cross-examination, PW-1 denied the suggestion that on 09.12.1997, the appellant was not working in his office and that he had not met the appellant. However, the app....
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....al course. 16. Viewed in the above background coupled with absence of proof of demand, case of the prosecution and the evidence of PWs 1 and 2 regarding acceptance of money calls for close scrutiny. On 17.12.1997, PW-1-Ramakrishnappa went to the office of the appellant accompanied by PW-2-Obaiah and the raiding party and PW-3- Srinivasa were waiting outside the office. PW-2-Obaiah was standing near the door of the chamber of the appellant and inside the room PW-1 had handed over the tainted currency to the appellant. On receiving the signal from PW-1, the raiding party and PW-3 entered into the office of the appellant and tainted currency notes were recovered from the appellant. 17. PW-2-Obaiah in his testimony has stated that he was standing near the door of the chamber of the appellant and he saw PW-1-Ramakrishnappa giving a sum of Rs. 5,000/- to the appellant stating that 'he is returning the amount which he had taken from the accused for purchasing the diesel'. PW-2 further stated that PW-3 and Lokayukta police entered the office of the appellant and the currency notes were recovered from the appellant and when the right hand of the appellant was dipped in the sodium carb....
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....is not enough that some currency notes were handed over to the public servant to make it illegal gratification and that the prosecution has a further duty to prove that what was paid was an illegal gratification, reference can be made to following observation in Mukut Bihari and Anr. v. State of Rajasthan (2012) 11 SCC 642, wherein it was held as under:- "11. The law on the issue is well settled that demand of illegal gratification is sine qua non for constituting an offence under the 1988 Act. Mere recovery of tainted money is not sufficient to convict the accused, when the substantive evidence in the case is not reliable, unless there is evidence to prove payment of bribe or to show that the money was taken voluntarily as bribe. Mere receipt of amount by the accused is not sufficient to fasten the guilt, in the absence of any evidence with regard to demand and acceptance of the amount as illegal gratification, but the burden rests on the accused to displace the statutory presumption raised under Section 20 of the 1988 Act, by bringing on record evidence, either direct or circumstantial, to establish with reasonable probability, that the money was accepted by him, other than as....
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....00, Noor Khan AIR 1964 SC 286, Khedu Mohton (1970) 2 SCC 450, Shivaji Sahabrao Bobade (1973) 2 SCC 793, Lekha Yadav (1973) 2 SCC 424, Khem Karan (1974) 4 SCC 603, Bishan Singh (1974) 3 SCC 288, Umedbhai Jadavbhai (1978) 1 SCC 228, K. Gopal Reddy (1979) 1 SCC 355, Tota Singh (1987) 2 SCC 529, Ram Kumar (1995) Supp 1 SCC 248, Madan Lal (1997) 7 SCC 677, Sambasivan (1998) 5 SCC 412, Bhagwan Singh (2002) 4 SCC 85, Harijana Thirupala (2002) 6 SCC 470, C. Antony (2003) 1 SCC 1, K. Gopalakrishna (2005) 9 SCC 291, Sanjay Thakran (2007) 3 SCC 755 and Chandrappa (2007) 4 SCC 415. It is not necessary to deal with these cases individually. Suffice it to say that this Court has consistently held that in dealing with appeals against acquittal, the appellate court must bear in mind the following: (i) There is presumption of innocence in favour of an accused person and such presumption is strengthened by the order of acquittal passed in his favour by the trial court; (ii) The accused person is entitled to the benefit of reasonable doubt when it deals with the merit of the appeal against acquittal; (iii) Though, the powers of the appellate court in considering the appeals....