The Executive Engineer, Heavy Electricals Ltd. (hereinafterreferred to as HEL), Bhopal invited tenders for constructionof four BCC overhead tanks, each of one lakh gallonscapacity, by a tender notice published on December 23, 1965.Four contractors, including the accused appellant, submittedtheir tenders.It was found that the tender of the appellant, whohad stipulated that he would use 18 tons of steel, was ofthe lowest amount.The other three contractors badstipulated that they would use 24 tons of steel.The case of the prosecution is that on April 9, 1966 PW 1Shivnarain Wadhwa, Chief Engineer Construction of HEL waspresent in his office.PW 5 Niranjanlal Shrivastava,Personal Assistant to the Chief Engineer, was also presentthere.A partition divides the office of the Chief Engineerfrom the place where Shrivastava used to sit.At about11.45 a.m. on that day, the appellant accompanied by twoothers, came to PW Shrivastava.The appellant gave visitingcard P4 to Shrivastava and said that he wanted to see theChief Engineer.Shrivastava sent that card through a peonto Chief Engineer Wadhwa.A short time thereafter on beingcalled by Wadhwa, the accused appellant accompanied by histwo companions went inside the office of Wadhwa.On arrivalthere, the accused talked about big tender and stated thatas his tender was the lowest,15-L382SupCI/74638the same should be accepted- The accused also handed overcopy P3 of letter dated April 8, 1966 which had beenaddressed by him to the Executive Engineer in connectionwith the above tender Wadhwa then told the accused thataccording to the information received by him, the accusedhad stipulated the use of only 18 tons of steel as against24 tons stipulated by others.The accuse however, persistedin saying that his tender was the lowest.Wadhwa then toldthe accused that whatever he had to say in the matter, heshould tell the Executive Engineer and that he might alsohand over a copy of his letter to the Assistant ChiefEngineer.The two companions of the accused, then left theoffice of Wadhwa, while the accused remained sitting there.Wadhwa then told the accused also to go, but the accusedinstead of going took out from the left pocket of histrousers an envelope and presented it to Wadhwa.Wadhwa reprimanded the accused for doing somethingwrong and at the same time he (Wadhwa) pressed the buzzerfor his Personal Assistant.Shrivastava PW then came insidethe office of Wadhwa.In the meantime, the accused had putback the envelope containing currency notes in the pocket ofhis trousers.On the arrival of Shrivastava, Wadhwa toldhim that the accused had given him bribe.Wadhwa also askedShrivastava to take out the envelope from the pocket of thetrousers of the accused.Shrivastava then took out theenvelope containing currency notes from the trousers' pocketof the accused.There were thirty 100-rupee currency notesin that envelope.Wadhwa then rung up R.C. Gupta (PW 3) whois the Secretary and Vigilance Officer of HEL as well asChandra Shekhar Tiwari (PW 4), who is the Chief SecurityOfficer of HEL.The offices of Gupta and Tiwari are also inthe Administrative Building of HEL, in which building issituated the office of Wadhwa PW.The accused then expressed his apologies and statedthat he was sorry and ashamed for what he had done.Theaccused also requested that he might be forgiven and thatotherwise he would lose his career as a contractor.Whenthe accused offered his apologies, Wadhwa remarked that ifthe accused gave anything in writing, he would consider thematter.The accused thereupon wrote something on a piece ofpaper.As the writing was not found to be satisfactory, thesame was not accepted by Wadhwa and the paper remained withthe accused.Wadhwa then asked Shrivastava to take Lalwanito his room.Wadhwa thereafter asked for the advice ofGupta and Tiwari.It was then decided that the mattershould be reported to the police.In the reportthe number of currency notes were also noted by Shrivastava.The report was then signed by Wadhwa.Appeal by special leave from the, judgment and Order datedFebruary 4, 1970 of the High Court of Madhya Pradesh(Jabalpur Bench) in Criminal Appeal No. 24 of 1967.Hardayal Hardy, M. S. N. Nambudri and B. R. G K. Achar, forthe appellant.Ram Paniwani and H. S. Parihar, for the respondent.The Judgment of the Court was delivered byKHANNA, J. This is an appeal by special leave by MohandasLalwani against the judgment of Madhya Pradesh High Courtwhereby the High Court reversed the judgment of acquittal ofthe Special Judge Bhopal and convicted the accused appellantunder section 165A Indian Penal Code and sentenced him toundergo rigorous imprisonment for a period of one year.The accused and, thereport were thereafter sent to police station Govindpura.Formal first information report P8 was prepared at thepolice station on the basis of report P1 and a case wasregistered against the accused at6392.15 P.M. Complaint about the occurrence was thereafterfiled in the court of the Special Judge Bhopal by TownInspector Gurbir Singh on.At the trial, Wadhwa (PW 1) gave evidence in support of theprosecution case as given above.Gupta (PW 3) and Tiwari(PW 4) deposed about, the extra judicial confession of theaccused in the office of Wadhwa PW when they were calledthere by Wadhwa PW on telephone.The prosecution furtherexamined Shrivastava (PW 5), according to whom, he wascalled by Wadhwa and was told that the accused had offeredhim bribe.The witness took out an envelope containingcurrency notes of the value of Rs. 3,000 from the pocket ofthe accused under the directions of Wadhwa- The witnessfurther deposed regarding the extra ' judicial confessionmade by the accused after the arrival of Gupta and TiwariPWs.The accused also admitted thatthe Personal Assistant of Wadhwa had taken out 30 currencynotes of Rs. 100 each from his pocket under the directionsof Wadhwa.The fact that Gupta and Tiwari were called ontelephone by Wadhwa was further admitted by the accused.The other prosecution allegations were denied by theaccused.He denied having offered any amount to Wadhwa orabout his having made any confession after the arrival ofGupta and Tiwari PWs.The accused further gave thefollowing version of the occurrence :"On 7-4-66 1 had gone to the office of the Executive Engineer Shri Karajgi.He was not there.I learnt from the office that my tender and the tenders of two or three persons more sent to the Assistant Chief Engineer, and there was remark on my tender that the testimonials were not attached whereas I had sent the same on the 21st.Therefore, I went to the Chief Engineer on the sameday and told him that my tender was the lowest and they say, that the testimonials have not been sent.On being asked by him I replied, 'can bring the testimonials'.Then I went to Delhi and on 9-4-66 1 came with the testimonials and the consultant Engineer and I had brought the amount of security also.For taking out the papers I was required to take out money also and after keeping money in my pocket I showed the papers to him.I said 'I have brought the testimonials also.I have brought the Engineer also.' You discuss with him and give final reply. 'He replied', Do not talk to me.Speak to the Executive Engineer. 'I said', There is corruption.Otherwise why my certificates have been removed from my tender? 'Thereupon he began to say, 'I am not prepared to hear this much.' Whereupon I replied, 'You are Head of the Depart-If you do not hear who will hear?' Thereupon he replied,. 'Do not talk anything more with me?' Whereupon I said, 'Are you also included in that corruption ?' Thereupon, he pressed the, buzzer.I had a hot talk with him.My Engineer also told, him.Thereupon he replied, 'I am not prepared to hear anything.' Then my Engineer spoke in Sindhi language, 'He is not hearing I go downstairs and I send any other person.' At the same time Wadhwa Saha ,threw away the testimonials and said, 'Where those persons have gone ?' Whereupon I replied, 'They have gone down- stairs'.He questioned, 'What did they say?'- I replied, 'They have not said anything.' 'Then I put the testimonials in my pocket and he pressed the buzzer."In defence, the accused examined one witness V. S. Asnani,Consulting Engineer.According to this witness, he wentwith the accused on the day of occurrence to Wadhwa PW.The trial court was of the view that Wadhwa PW was notwholly reliable witness.As regards Gupta and Tiwari, itwas observed that they were interested witnesses.Reference, was also made to some discrepancies in theprosecution evidence as well as to the fact that there wasno mention in the first information report of the extrajudicial confession of the accused.The version given bythe accused, in the opinion of the trial court, could notbe said to be unreasonable.In the result the trial courtgave the benefit of doubt to the accused and acquitted him.On appeal the High Court considered the evidence adduced inthe case by the prosecution and found the same to bereliable.The High Court disagreed with- the trial courtthat the prosecution evidence suffered from infirmities.The defence version was rejected by the High Court asunworthy of evidence.In the result the appeal was acceptedand the accused was convicted and sentenced as above.The trial court did not place much reliance upon thetestimony of Wadhwa because the witness admitted thatcomplaints had been made against him for showing favouritismas well as for corruption and highhandedness.On someoccasions the witness also had to give explanation toclarify some particular action.

Sections cited: Section 417 in The Indian Penal Code