JUDGEMENT
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(1.)Aggrieved by the judgment dated 27-4-1995 in C.C. No. 5/94 on the file of the Special Judge for C.B.I. Cases. Visakhapatnam, the appellant/accused filed the present appeal.
(2.)The appellant/accused, M. Gopinath, was working as Accounts Assistant, Divisional Accounts Office. South Central Railway. Vijayawada. His duty was to attend and pass Salary Bills, Bonus, D.A. etc. of Railway Engineering Section and also Railway Protection Cell. P.W. 5-D. Lakshminarayana was the Senior Section Officer. Sr. Divisional Office, South Central Railway. Vijayawada. PW. 6-D. Visantha Rao was the Accounts Assistant. Senior Divisional Office. South Central Railway, Vijayawada and his duty was to attend and clear of Gratuity. Bills of the deceased and retired employees. P.W. 6 was on leave from 15-11-1993 to 24-11-1993 and thereafter he extended the leave w.e.f. 25-11-1993. During the leave period of P.W. 6, the appellant was kept incharge of urgent work of P.W. 6.
(3.)P.W. 2-Sk. Mastanbee is the wife of late Siddasaheb, who worked in railways and died on 9-4-1989. She was given compassionate appointment as Kalasi in the Office of the Inspector of Works. Railways. Guntur. The death benefits of Siddasaheb were received by PW. 2 except the gratuity amount. Her application to grant the gratuity amount has been passed by the concerned Officer at Guntur and forwarded to the Divisional Accounts Office. Vijayawada. As no reply was received from the Divisional Accounts Office. P.W. 2 went to the office of the accused on 17-11-1993 and enquired about the gratuity amount, which her husband has to get. The gratuity amount, relating to Siddasaheb, which P.W. 2 is entitled to, was Rs. 8,550.00 which has to be paid by the office of the accused. The accused told P.W. 2 that the concerned clerk (PW. 6) was on leave and he was kept incharge of that seat. PW. 2 requested the accused to clear of the gratuity bill. The accused demanded Rs. 800.00 to clear the file and release of the amount. P.W. 2 expressed her inability to pay the demanded amount. Initially, she was asked to pay Rs. 300.00 as first instalment on the afternoon of 25-11-1993 at his Office and the balance amount has to be paid after receiving the gratuity amount. As P.W. 2 was not willing to pay the amount, as demanded by the accused, she gave a complaint to P.W. 10-S.B. Shanker. Inspector of Police. C.B.I. Visakhapatnam. PW. 10 in his evidence said that on 24-11-1993 at about 9-30 a.m. P.W.2 came to him and narrated the contents of Ex. P. 1, which he reduced into writing and she affixed her thumb impression and the carbon copy of the same was marked as Ex. P. 1(A). After recording Ex. P. 1, P.W. 10 transmitted the same to the S.P., C.B.I., Visakhapatnam, by post. On receipt of the said complaint, P.W. 11-Deputy Superintendent of Police, C.B.I., Visakhapatnam, registered a case in R.C. No. 15/93 against the accused and issued FIR, Ex. P. 18, on 26-11-1993. On 25-11-1993, P.W. 10 asked P.W. 1-D. Jhansi, Class IV employee, Income Tax Office, Vijayawada Range, Vijayawada, P.W. 3-B. Srinivas Gandhi, Inspector, Central Excise, Vijayawada and others to come to his room. Accordingly, they constituted as a trap party, who gathered in the room of P.W. 10. P.W. 2, the complainant was introduced to the mediators of the trap party. P.W. 2 was asked to give Rs. 300.00. Accordingly, P.W. 2 Rs. 300.00 i.e. six currency notes of Rs. 50.00 denomination each, were tainted with phenolphthalein power and the required first mediators proceedings were prepared, which is marked as Ex. P. 2 at Room No. 15 of the Railway Retiring Room of Vijayawada Railway Station. P.W. 1 ws asked to accompany P.W. 2. All of them started from the office of P.W. 10 at 3.00 p.m. and proceeded to the office of the accused. P.W.2 was asked to pay the money, on demand, by getting the accused to the ground floor. As per the arranged trap, P.W. 2 along with P.W. 1 went to the office of the accused for payment of the amount, on demand, and on seeing P.Ws. 1 and 2, the accused came out of the office room, where he was working, and he asked P.W. 2 who is P.W. 1. P.W.2 told the accused that PW. 1 is her sister. After sometime they got down from the second floor and proceeded in the direction to Canteen. In the open space between the stair case and canteen, they stopped and on demand of the accused, PW. 2 paid the amount to the accused. After taking the amount with his right hand, the accused counted the money with his left hand and kept the same in his left side pant pocket. After accepting the money, P.W. 1 gave a pre-arranged signal and on seeing the signal, the raid party came there and surrounded the accused. All of them introduced themselves and their identity. The C.B.I. Inspector asked the accused as to whether he has accepted the money. The accused told that P.W. 2 kept the money in his pocket. The accused was taken to his office room on the second floor, where a second mediator's report was prepared, which was marked as Ex. P. 3. Both the hands of the accused were subjected to phenolphthalein test by making him to dip his hands in the sodium carbonate solution, which turned into pink colour and the said solution is marked as M.Os. 1 and 2. M.O. 1 is the bottle containing the solution of the right hand wash of the accused and M.O. 2 is the bottle containing the solution of the left hand wash of the accused. The accused was asked to produce the amount and the accused took out the amount from his left side pant pocket and the said amount was verified with Ex. P. 2, first mediator's report, in which the numbers of the currency notes and the denomination were mentioned, and the money produced from the pant pocket of the accused found tallied with the numbers of the currency notes and denomination mentioned in Ex. P. 2. Then the accused was taken to his house for the purpose of changing the pant, so as to enable them to test the trouser with phenolphthalein test and there also a test was made, which revealed that the trouser pocket was found with the phenolphthalein powder when it was dipped in the Sodium Carbonate solution, which turned into pink colour and a third mediator's report was prepared, which is marked as Ex. P. 5 and the trouser, which was seized is marked as M.O. 3. The cash of Rs. 300.00 was seized; and other papers found in the pant pocket were returned to the accused.