Central Bureau of Investigation Vs Baljeet Singh (Supreme Court of India)
Supreme Court held that public servant can be duly convicted under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 on the basis of evidence inspite of the fact that co-accused is acquitted of conspiracy charges.
Facts- PW1, the complainant, was the partner of a firm whose Assessing Officer under the Income Tax Act was the 1st appellant/ 1st accused; Al . There was a notice issued to the assessee for the assessment year 2008-09 as pending in the office of Al, to finalize which PW1 had approached the 2nd appellant/2nd accused; A2, an Income Tax Inspector, who was the subordinate of Al . It was the complaint of PW1 that in October 2010, he had met both the appellants concerned in connection with the scrutiny of the accounts of the firm in which he was a partner, pursuant to which he was directed to furnish information which also was submitted. On 27.12.2010, PW1 had gone to the Income Tax Office where he met A2 who took him to A1. After discussions, when PW1 was coming out with A2, the latter made a demand of Rs.5 lakhs purportedly on behalf of A1. PW1 protested and the second appellant having persisted, he haggled for a lesser amount pointing out that in October 2010 the demand was for a far lesser amount of Rs.1,50,000/-. The second appellant refused to budge, and this prompted PW1 to approach the CBI with the complaint.
