MADURAI: Remarking that "the spectrum of modes of corruption” spreads out in “various angles and dimensions, and if one angle is closed, another angle sprouts”, the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court recently set aside a trial court acquittal order against four former officials of the commissioner of customs and central excise (appeals) in Tiruchy in a 2006 bribery case. The court further sentenced each of the four convicts to undergo two years’ imprisonment.
Justice KK Ramakrishnan in an appeal filed by the CBI against the acquittal order of the II additional district judge for CBI cases in Madurai said that the trial court judge erroneously acquitted the former officials in spite of cogent and corroborating evidence. "In this largest democratic country, officers find out a way to indulge in corruption during the discharge of their duty either by acting contrary to the guidelines or deviating from them," the judge remarked.
According to the prosecution, G Elangovan, then superintendent of the commissioner of customs in Tiruchy, AD Khadtare, then commissioner (appeals) of the same office, SX Jayaraj, then superintendent of the same office, and M Ramesh Kumar, who was a contingent employee of the same office, in 2006 demanded Rs 20,000 as illegal gratification from Sathyamurthy, the managing partner of a steel company in Pudukkottai, for revising a penalty imposed on him to Rs 1 lakh from Rs 4.87 lakh. On information, the CBI, considering the special circumstances in regard to the complaint wherein high rank officials were named, used an electronic recorder and also hid in the toilet. Following an alert after the bribe amount was parted with, the CBI team caught the officials red-handed. After completing the investigation, the CBI filed the final report before the II additional district court judge for CBI cases in Madurai. In 2016, the trial court judge had, however, acquitted all the four.
When the available evidence “amply” proved the demand and acceptance of bribe, the “segregation” of evidence by the trial court judge to suit the convenience by looking at every contradiction with a “jaundiced eye” resulted in miscarriage of justice which led to the “unmerited” acquittal, Justice Ramakrishnan said, setting aside the trial court order.