File Photo: Bombay High Court
Nearly three decades after they were charged with taking bribe of up to Rs 1100, two Maharashtra government employees were acquitted by the Bombay High Court which set aside their conviction by lower court.
Justice Sadhana Jadhav recently acquitted Ravindra Joshi and Narayan Mane on the ground that the prosecution "miserably" failed to prove its case against them.
The Judge was hearing an appeal filed by Mr Joshi and Mr Mane challenging a Sessions Court order of 1994 convicting them under the Prevention of Corruption Act and sentencing them to five years in jail.
They were accused of demanding and accepting a bribe of Rs 1,100 and Rs 700 respectively from an agriculturist in 1986.
The complainant, Ramesh Gurav, approached the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB), which laid a trap and caught the duo with the 'bribe' money.
The two accused, however, told the ACB officials the money was not bribe but loan taken from them which Gurav was returning.
"Upon analysis of the evidence adduced by the prosecution, it is clear that prosecution has miserably failed to establish its theory that there was a demand of gratification. There is no cogent and convincing proof of any demand of gratification," Justice Jadhav said.
The court held that the prosecution has failed to establish that the amount received by the accused was in the nature of illegal gratification, bribe or demand.