V. Jayanandakumar Vs State of Kerala (Kerala High Court)
Kerala High Court held that proceedings punishable under section 13(1)(d) r.w.s. 13(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 not justified since illegal gratification of Rs. 1.5 crore against Intelligence Officer not proved in absence of sufficient evidence.
Facts- Accused No.1 was the Inspecting Assistant Commissioner (Intelligence), accused No.2 was the Intelligence Officer and accused Nos.3 as well as 4 were the Intelligence Inspectors, Commercial Taxes, Thrissur. They entered into a conspiracy with other accused for reducing tax rate from 12.5% to 4% of the tax due from M/s. Nano Excel Enterprises Pvt. Ltd to which accused No.5 was the Managing Director and accused No.7, the Director. In furtherance of the said conspiracy, the compounding tax liable to be paid by the said company of Rs.13,06,29,613/- was reduced to Rs.7,00,68,469/-. Thereby the company had a pecuniary advantage of Rs.6,05,61,144/- during the year 2009-2010. In consideration of the same an illegal gratification of Rs.1.5 crores was paid to accused Nos.1 to 4 Which they had shared. Accused Nos.6 and 8 facilitated the transaction. The car provided by accused No.8 was used to take the said amount of bribe from the company of accused Nos.5 and 7 to the hotel where the money was transferred.
