Revenue official caught accepting Rs 20,000 bribe in Thane district

The AntiCorruption Bureau ACB has arrested a revenue official for allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs 20000 from a man to carry out changes in land records in Maharashtras Thane district an official said on Saturday reported PTIThe ACBs Thane unit on Friday caught the accused Ishwar Badrinath Jadhav 56 a revenue officer for the villages of Dwarli Adivali and Dhokli in Ambernath redhanded while accepting the bribe the official said reported PTIDeputy Superintendent of Police ACBThane Anil Jaykar said the complainant had approached the revenue department seeking correction of successionrelated entries in land records following the death of his father reported PTIThe complainant wanted earlier succession mutations cancelled and fresh entries made to include his stepsister as one of the legal heirs in the land records he saidAccording to the ACB Jadhav allegedly demanded Rs 20000 to process the work including Rs 10000 purportedly for himself and Rs 10000 for the circle officer reported PTIUnwilling to pay the bribe the complainant approached the ACBs Thane unit and lodged a complaintThe accused official has been arrested under the Prevention of Corruption Act the official saidIllegal demand not proved Thane court acquits IT officer in 2006 bribery caseIn anoter case a special CBI Court in Maharashtras Thane district acquitted an IncomeTax officer accused of demanding a bribe of Rs 275 lakh from a businessman ruling that the mere recovery of money cannot constitute an offence without proof of an illegal demand reported PTISpecial Judge D S Deshmukh on Friday acquitted IncomeTax officer Anil Ratnakar Mallel 44 of charges under the Prevention of Corruption Act 1988 in a 2006 case reported PTIThe case against coaccused Additional Commissioner Pankaj Garg was abated following his death in 2024According to the prosecution the CBIs anticorruption branch laid a trap on December 13 2006 following a complaint by Jaisukhlal Waghani of JP Electronics who alleged officials demanded money to clear a scrutiny fileThe court noted that when the prosecution failed to establish the initial demand the entire evidence obtained by laying a trap becomes suspectWhile audio transcripts revealed that the complainant proactively offered money rather than Mallel extorting it witnesses also gave contradictory statementsThe evidence of recovery of tainted amount from Mallel when evidence of the previous demand is lacking or is not satisfactory would be totally insufficient to hold the accused guilty for having committed an offence In this case also evidence of illegal demand is lacking the judge ruled reported PTIMallel worked in an open hall where the complainant sat next to his desk drawer the court pointed out noting the cash could have been planted while his back was turnedIt also cited an invalid prosecution sanction a 17day delay in registering the first information report FIR and sample tampering doubts while acquitting the accused of all chargesWith inputs from PTI