Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Dec 22: High Court today set-aside the imprisonment awarded by Special Judge Anticorruption Kashmir to Ghulam Mohammad Dar, the then Assistant Compiler, District Fund Office, who was caught red-handed while accepting bribe in July 2004 from a teacher for processing his GP Fund bill.
Justice Sanjay Dhar observed, “there are several discrepancies in the present case, which have escaped the notice of the trial court while appreciating the evidence on record”, adding “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 Rs 1500 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 show that when the money was handed over by the complainant to the accused, the DySP 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”, the court said.
“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”, the High Court said, adding “from the 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”, High Court said.
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