Case: Kishan Narain Vs. State Of Maharashtra

a mention in the panchnama statement which also clearly says that then they talked something which was not audible to PWs 4 and 5. Then in Raos evidence he says that he told the appel1ant that it would mean lack of trust in him and the appellant told him that he had full trust in him. In the panchnama it is said that Rao said "you have to trust me as I am trusting you." The point about trusting each other could be understood only if Raos evidence is correct. There is no other explanation. Then Rao says that the accused asked Shahani to go out and to get the packets from Madanlal and Shahani went out from the side entry. In the panchnama it is mentioned that a few moments later the man on the left side of Shri Rao (Shahani) got up from the chair and walked out of the enclosure of the verandah from the western side, went up to the foot-path and came back. We are satisfied that on the substantial question as to what happened there is really no contradiction between the evidence of Rao and the panchnama statement as well as the evidence of the panch witnesses. We find it difficult to accept the case on behalf of the appellant that all that he did say was to ask Shahani to get the papers and that he found that the envelopes he brought contained currency notes when the police came in and took them from Rao. The reaction of the appellant when this happened was not that of an innocent person in such a situation. He would have burst out and abused Shahani. He would have come out with his case then and there. It is difficult to believe the appellants statement that when he asked Shahani to give Rao the papers in regard to the two consignments Shahani said he had got them outside and he would fetch them and he went out and brought two envelopes which were later found to contain currency notes. He does not explain how the papers happened to be outside and how they could not be either with Shahani or with himself when they were inside the restaurant. The envelopes must have been with somebody outside. It must be Madanlal. This is also consistent with Raos evidence that shows that the appellant was trying to see if he could postpone the payment till the consignments were cleared. We agree with the conclusion of the courts below that Madanlal was in Bombay on that day and not in Amritsar as was sought to be made out on behalf of the appellant. 10. Though in the arguments on behalf of the appellant complete reliance is sought to be placed on the panchas and the panchnama statement, in his statement under S. 342 Cr.P.C. be had said that both Mr. Rao and Mr. Shahani had cooked the whole matter earlier and made Mr. Jog (D.S.P. of the Special Police Establishment) and the panchas to believe that some bribe was being given to Rao and that all these things have been crammed in the heads of the panchas and they were made to believe that the appellant was going to give bribe to Rao. The whole statement reads as though the panchnama contained something against him. A clever attempt has been made to make it appear that Shahani went out and brought in two envelopes containing currency notes instead of the papers relating to two consignments that appellant expected Shahani to bring. Not being in a position to question the integrity of PWs 4 and 5 or the truth of their evidence an attempt has been made on behalf of the appellant to sail as close as possible to their evidence and to give just a simple twist to make it appear that the appellant was innocent. In addition to the fact that the appellants reaction was not that of an innocent man falsely accused of giving a bribe we do not believe, as we said earlier, that Rao had sufficient motive to trap the appellant by either himself producing the money or to get it from any of the appellants enemies. We are not able to find any reason to be lieve that anybody had sufficient enmity with appellant to try to falsely foist a case against him and risk Rs. 5000/- in the process. We are satisfied that the conclusion arrived at by both the courts below about the appellants guilt is correct and it has been established beyond all reasonable doubt. 11. The only question that remains is the question of sentence. The learned Judge of the High Court has reduced the sentence of one years imprisonment awarded by the Special Judge to one of six months on the ground that the appellant paid the bribe only in order to avoid harassment.Even if we accept this conclusion we do not consider that the imprisonment should be reduced below six months to which he reduced it. But we are of opinion that there was no harassment as the facts set out earlier would amply bear out. Nor can we agree with the argument advanced on behalf of the appellant that Raos evidence to the effect that the appellant asked him whether he would be ready to accept money after the consignment was cleared shows that he had reconsidered his decision of bribing Rao and wanted to turn over a new leaf. What the appellant was trying to do was really to try to have the cake and eat it too.We do not consider that this is a case like the one in Ramjanam Singh v. State of Bihar, AIR 1956 SC 643 of a person who had decided finally and firmly not to bribe and where it could be said that he was deliberately tempted beyond the powers of his frail endurance and provoked into breaking the law by those who were the guardians and keepers of the law.

Decision (1 = appeal accepted, 0 = rejected): 0

Explanation:
0[ds]We are of opinion that the High Court has not been quite fair to Rao. In regard to Shahanis application for reward and his own dealings with the connected file Rao was really on the horns of a dilemma. As pointed out by the Assistant Collector, Beri, in his reply affidavit to the appellants application for the production of the three documents which he wanted, Rao could not be compelled to answer questions without breach of the provisions of Sections 124 and 125 of the Evidence Act. We are of opinion that the order of the learned Judge of the High Court permitting certain portions of the C.I.U. file to be brought on record was not correct. The learned Judge seems to have been more concerned with the provisions of Section 125 than with Section 124 of the Evidence Act. While the portions brought on record might not contravene the provisions of Section 125 we have no doubt that it contravenes Sec. 124. The noting made by Rao on the C.I.U. file was one made by him in official confidence. This was not seriously disputed by Mr. Sibal appearing for the appellant before usEven taking those conclusions into account we do not consider that the prosecution case in respect of the central point has in any way been shaken. The learned Judge of the High Court himself did not find Rao to be wholly unreliable and he did not consider that his evidence could be altogether discarded. We are satisfied on the evidence that the Courts below were right in coming to conclusion that the appellant did meet Rao at Gaylord on the 13th. As we have already mentioned the appellant had immediately reported the matter to Assistant Collector, Sonavne and on the instructions of his higher authorities a complaint was made to the Special Police Establishment. We are not able to accept the argument on behalf of the appellant that there was no such meeting, that it was Shahani that had arranged for the appellants meeting with Rao at Gaylord on the 14th and that it was Shahani who had arranged to see that the two envelopes which the appellant handed over to Rao contained not the documents relating to the two further consignments but currency notes. That the appellant should have been anxious to be on the right side of somebody in the Customs Department was natural enough. The reason is this: All the appraisers who had looked into the consignment received by the J. D. Mills had taken the view that what was imported was not spare parts though it was argued on behalf of the appellant that the various spare parts had been put together in order that they might be transported safely and what was imported was not a whole machine. It may well be that what was imported was not a whole machine as held by the Collector of Customs ultimately in 1968. But the spare parts were in an assembled condition and even Majumdar, the Engineer of Bakubhai Ambalal got the first impression that it was nearly a machine. He could not say what parts were not there. The appellant himself in the statement filed before the trial court has stated that in view of the fact that the spare parts which were imported were in an assembled condition for the purpose of safe transportation without avoidable damage, the Customs examiners and appraisers got the first impression that what was imported was a machine and not spare parts. It was, therefore, not surprising that all the appraisers who viewed the machine proceeded on the basis that what was imported was not spare parts. Even according to the appellant, he had asked Shahani to introduce him to Rao. Quite possibly Shahani might have told the appellant that Rao was expected to be in the Gaylord on the 13th at 12.30 p.m. We are proceeding on the basis that Shahanis evidence is wholly unreliable. But as we said earlier, Rao could not have complained to Sonavne at 1.30 p.m. soon after he alleges he had met the appellant at Gaylord at 12.30 p.m. and the appellant had made the offer of bribe, nor gone on further to make a complaint to the Special Police Establishment if he had not met the appellant on the 13th. He could not have done all that merely on Shahanis information that the appellant would meet him (Rao) on the 14th at Gaylord. Nor could it be expected that either Shahani or Rao would have found Rs. 5,000/- merely to trap the appellant and risk that amount. There is no strong enough motive for either Shahani or Rao to implicate the appellant falsely. We are satisfied that the evidence of Rao as to what happened on the 13th is true and reliableA clever attempt has been made to make it appear that Shahani went out and brought in two envelopes containing currency notes instead of the papers relating to two consignments that appellant expected Shahani to bring. Not being in a position to question the integrity of PWs 4 and 5 or the truth of their evidence an attempt has been made on behalf of the appellant to sail as close as possible to their evidence and to give just a simple twist to make it appear that the appellant was innocent. In addition to the fact that the appellants reaction was not that of an innocent man falsely accused of giving a bribe we do not believe, as we said earlier, that Rao had sufficient motive to trap the appellant by either himself producing the money or to get it from any of the appellants enemies. We are not able to find any reason to be lieve that anybody had sufficient enmity with appellant to try to falsely foist a case against him and risk Rs. 5000/- in the process. We are satisfied that the conclusion arrived at by both the courts below about the appellants guilt is correct and it has been established beyond all reasonable doubt11. The only question that remains is the question of sentence. The learned Judge of the High Court has reduced the sentence of one years imprisonment awarded by the Special Judge to one of six months on the ground that the appellant paid the bribe only in order to avoid harassment.Even if we accept this conclusion we do not consider that the imprisonment should be reduced below six months to which he reduced it. But we are of opinion that there was no harassment as the facts set out earlier would amply bear out. Nor can we agree with the argument advanced on behalf of the appellant that Raos evidence to the effect that the appellant asked him whether he would be ready to accept money after the consignment was cleared shows that he had reconsidered his decision of bribing Rao and wanted to turn over a new leaf. What the appellant was trying to do was really to try to have the cake and eat it too.We do not consider that this is a case like the one in Ramjanam Singh v. State of Bihar, AIR 1956 SC 643   of a person who had decided finally and firmly not to bribe and where it could be said that he was deliberately tempted beyond the powers of his frail endurance and provoked into breaking the law by those who were the guardians and keepers of the law.