STATE OF A.P. vs K.PUNARDANA RAO — Crl.A. No. 408/1998

Case Summary: State of A.P. v. K. Punardana Rao (Crl.A. 408/1998) The Supreme Court reversed the High Court's acquittal and convicted K. Punardana Rao, a Commercial Tax Officer, under Section 13(1)(d) read with Section 13(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, for accepting a ₹20,000 bribe from a businessman. The Court found the prosecution's trap evidence credible—including recovery of tainted money from the respondent and positive phenolphthalein chemical tests—while rejecting the respondent's improbable defense that money was accidentally left in his house. Rao was sentenced to one year imprisonment on concurrent counts. This case analysis is maintained by casestatus.in based on publicly available court records.