Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Jan 5: Special Judge Anticorruption Jammu, A K Koul has acquitted Patwari Ganesh Pal Sharma and his alleged tout Balwant Raj, who were caught red-handed on January 12, 2010 while taking bribe money of Rs 3000, as the Vigilance Organization failed to prove its case.
According to the challan, one Simrat Singh, son of Capt Gurmukh Singh of village Gokle Chak, Ramgarh lodged a written complaint with the Vigilance Organization alleging therein that the two files were pending with the accused Patwari, one for entry of Virasat Intaqal in the revenue records of land situated at village Gokle Chak and second for issuance of income certificate.
The complainant submitted that the Patwari was demanding Rs 3000 as gratification from the complainant. After completion of the investigation, Vigilance presented challan in the court.
After hearing Advocate KS Charak appearing for the accused persons, Special Judge Anticorruption observed, “the prosecution ordinarily is under legal obligation to create an uninterrupted link between the accused and the guilt but in this case the matter seems to be otherwise because so many questions have remained unanswered and the doubts have not been cleared”.
“The IO appears to have tailored the facts being unmindful of the fact that his mischief could lead accused to misery if it is not noticed and the evidence of remaining witnesses is of no consequence because the star witnesses have created such a dent in the prosecution case, which is irreparable”, the court said, adding “generally a case based on a legitimate trap should be watertight but it has not happened so in this case at least. The defence theory appears to be more plausible than the prosecution story, which leaves the court with no option but to disbelieve the later”.
With these observations, court dismissed the challan and acquitted the accused of the charges leveled against him.
Trending Now
E-Paper
Follow our WhatsApp channel