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State of Uttar Pradesh v. A.K. Gaba etc. etc.

Criminal Appeal · 2026 INSC 568Decided 27 May 2026
Crl.A. Nos. 3383-3385 of 2025
Justice Pankaj Mithal · Justice Prasanna B. Varale · Justice Aravind Kumar

Background

In January 1995, Central Excise officers including R.K. Srivastava and A.K. Gaba seized business records during an inspection of a factory in Barabanki, Uttar Pradesh, and allegedly demanded Rs. 80,000 as illegal gratification to return the documents. A CBI trap led to the recovery of the cash and the accused being caught with "phenolphthalein-stained hands," after which a charge-sheet was filed under the Prevention of Corruption Act and IPC. The Special Judge, Lucknow convicted the accused (including the respondents A.K. Gaba, Alok Gupta and others) in 2014, but the Allahabad High Court's Lucknow Bench acquitted all of them in 2019, finding the prosecution's evidence unreliable. The State of Uttar Pradesh appealed to the Supreme Court against the acquittal.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court noted that the prosecution had failed to produce a tape-recorded conversation that could have conclusively established who was present and what was actually said during the alleged demand for a bribe, and that an adverse inference could be drawn against the prosecution for withholding such material evidence. It reiterated the settled principles governing appeals against acquittal: that an acquittal carries a double presumption of innocence, and an appellate court should not disturb it if the High Court's view is a reasonable, possible one on the evidence, even if another view was also possible. Applying this standard, the Court found the High Court had meticulously re-appreciated the evidence and given cogent reasons for extending the benefit of doubt, and that the prosecution had failed to prove the essential ingredients of demand, acceptance, and criminal conspiracy beyond reasonable doubt. It therefore held the High Court's acquittal was neither perverse nor contrary to law, and dismissed the State's appeals.

Lesson Learnt

An order of acquittal carries a strong presumption of innocence that appellate courts are reluctant to disturb unless the acquittal is perverse or manifestly unreasonable; prosecutors who withhold or fail to produce key evidence (such as a recorded conversation) in a corruption case risk having that evidence held against them, undermining the case.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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