State Of U.P vs Bhaiya Lal Verma

2. Background facts in a nutshell are as follows:

They reached near the office and sent Rajendra Singh for giving illegal gratification. They remained standing in the Verandah by the side of the eastern window affixed in the northern wall of the big room lying in the middle of the office. At that time light was on in the office and it was about 6.45 P.M. Sri Bhaiya Lal Verma was sitting on the table and was talking with one person. The police party and the public witnesses heard and saw from the window that Rejendra Singh informed Bhaiya Lal Verma that he has brought Rs.150/- which he had demanded for not making recovery from him and he should accept the said amount. Thereafter Rajendra Singh offered Rs.150/- to Bhaiya Lal Verma, who accepted the currency notes of Rs.150/-. He took out purse 5 from his pocket and kept the said currency notes in the purse. Thereafter, he kept the purse in the left pocket of his bush- shirt. On being satisfied that Bhaiya Lal has accepted bribe, the office was raided immediately and Bhaiya Lal was apprehended inside the room. His personal search was made in accordance with rules. One currency note of the denomination of Rs.100/- having No.AA/35 377745 and one currency note of the denomination of Rs.50/- having No.3 DH 355826 with marked initials of Sri. R.L. Gupta were recovered from the purse kept in the left pocket of his bush shirt. Besides it, two currency notes of the denomination of Rs.100/- each and two currency notes of the denomination of Rs.50/- each were also recovered from the said purse. In the purse, photograph of the accused was there. During search, the person with whom the accused was talking before taking bribe escaped quietly from there. On interrogation, he disclosed his name as Bhaiya Lal Verma son of Korey Lal Verma and stated his full address. The aforesaid currency notes along with purse and the photo of the accused and the bush shirt which the accused was wearing were taken into 6 possession by the police at the spot and the aforesaid articles were sealed at the spot. The recovery memo Ex. Ka. 1 was prepared at the spot by Sri Shiv Nandan Singh at the dictation of Sri O.P. Kakkar. The recovery memo was read over to the police personnel and the public witnesses and their signatures were obtained. Thereafter, the accused Bhaiya Lal was brought to P.S. Kotwali and was lodged there. The recovery memo and the other papers were also filed at P.S. Kotwali. On the basis of the recovery memo the case was registered against the accused Bhaiya Lal Verma for offences punishable under Section l61 I.P.C. and under Section 5 (2) of Act. The case was investigated by Sri Akshay Kumar Singh, the then Deputy S.P. Babenu. During investigation, he recorded the statements of the witnesses and prepared the site plan. The sanction to prosecute the accused was granted by Sri Rishi Ram Sharma, Director Agriculture, Uttar Pradesh on 14th January, 1985. After completion of the investigation, the charge sheet was filed against the accused for commission of offences punishable under Section 161 IPC and Section 5(2) of the Act. 7 The accused pleaded innocence. He admitted that he was posted as Accountant in the office of District Agriculture and Project Officer Banda in April, 1984. In his statement recorded under Section 313 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (in short the `Code'), it was his stand that Sri Ram Adhar Awasthi was dealing with files relating to recovery. He had no concern with the files of recovery. He took the stand that there was enmity between the then Plant Protection Officer, Banda who in collusion with Rajendra Kumar Kushwaha registered the false case against him. He examined two witnesses to substantiate his defence.

9. Above being the position, the order of the High Court is clearly indefensible and is set aside. The order of conviction recorded by the trial court is restored. The custodial sentence shall be one year which is the minimum sentence prescribed. 13

10. The appeal is allowed to the aforesaid extent.