HC set-aside conviction of Assistant Compiler, District Fund Office in corruption case
JKUT (Jammu), December-22-2021-( JNF):- Justice Sanjay Dhar of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh High Court Srinagar Wing today set-aside the imprisonment awarded by Special Judge Anticorruption Kashmir to Ghulam Mohammad Dar then Assistant Compiler, District Fund Office who was caught red-handed by the Anticorruption Kashmir while accepting bribe.
A case was registered against Dar, a resident of Rabitar in Ganderbal district, on July 26, 2004 at police station vigilance on a written complaint lodged by a teacher Abdul Majid Misger alleging that the official was demanding bribe from him for processing his GP fund bill.
Justice Sanjay Dhar while setting-aside the judgment of trial court, observed that there are several other discrepancies in the present case, which have escaped the notice of the trial court while appreciating the evidence on record. According to the complainant, he was having only Rs.1500/ with him at the time when he reached the office of Vigilance Organization in connection with pre-trap demonstration and these 1500 rupees comprised of 15 currency notes of Rs.100/ each. The complainant has gone on to state that the officers of the Vigilance Organization exchanged it with four currency notes of five hundred rupees each. He reiterated the same in his cross-examination by defence. Even this discrepancy has not been cleared by the prosecution by putting the witness to cross-examination after seeking permission from the Court. Not only this, there is evidence on record to shows that when the money was handed over by the complainant to the accused, the Dy. SP caught hold of him by his hands and even when the complainant went inside the office of the accused, the complainant caught hold of his hand and made him to come downstairs. Thus, the possibility of accused coming into contact with phenolphthalein smeared hands of the complainant and members of the trap team cannot be ruled out, which may have been the reason that when his hands were washed, the solution turned pink. From the foregoing sequence of events which have come forth from the evidence on record, it becomes clear that even the trap laying team has not taken necessary precautions and followed the standard operating procedure in the matters governing trap. This makes the whole process of trap laying in the instant case suspicious and tainted, Court said. JNF
