In Brief
S.C. Goel, a Junior Engineer with the Municipal Corporation of Delhi, was convicted under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 for demanding and accepting a bribe of Rs. 10,000. The High Court affirmed his conviction but reduced his sentence to the statutory minimum. In appeal before the Supreme Court, Goel challenged the conviction on grounds that the complainant's testimony was unreliable (having been declared hostile) and that the recovery evidence was procedurally flawed. The Supreme Court upheld the conviction, holding that a hostile witness's evidence can be accepted if clear and categorical on specific facts, and that the marked currency notes recovered from Goel's jacket, corroborated by witness testimony, sufficiently proved acceptance of the bribe. Since the sentence was already at the minimum, it could not be reduced further. The appeal was dismissed."
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