Santosh Kumar Sahay, an Upper Divisional Clerk in the CMPF Office, Ranchi, was convicted by the Special Judge, CBI, Ranchi for demanding and accepting a bribe of Rs. 2,000 from complainant Astab Ali in exchange for providing a CMPF nominee certificate needed for a compassionate appointment application. The CBI laid a trap on 01.04.2003, using phenolphthalein-treated currency notes, and caught the appellant red-handed accepting the bribe at his office table, with the transaction witnessed by shadow witnesses and trap team members. The trial court convicted him under Sections 7 and 13(1)(d) read with Section 13(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, sentencing him to R.I. of 2 years and 3 years respectively (to run concurrently) along with fines. The appellant challenged this conviction and sentence before the Jharkhand High Court in the present criminal appeal. The judgment text provided covers the factual matrix and pre/post-trap formalities; the final appellate decision is not included in the extracted text.