Thane: A Thane Sessions court has convicted and sentenced a former clerk of the Thane District Consumer Dispute Redressal Forum to one year of rigorous imprisonment for demanding and accepting a bribe of Rs 1,000 from an advocate.
Court Judgment
The Additional Sessions, Suryakant S. Shinde, delivered the judgment , convicting the accused, Kishor Vishwanath Mankame (59), under Sections 7 and 13 of The Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988.
Mankame, who worked as a Clerk-cum-steno at the Consumer Court, was found guilty of demanding Rs 1,000 (Rs 200 per file for five cases) as illegal gratification to process and list the complainant advocate's files.
ACB Trap and Evidence
The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB), Thane, laid a trap on December 14, 2017, following a complaint by Advocate Kanaksingh Puroshottam Boda.
The court records reveal the accused accepted the tainted bribe money inside the male toilet on the second floor of the District Collector’s office, Thane. The money—two notes of Rs 500 denomination dusted with anthracene powder—was recovered from the left side pocket of Mankame’s shirt.
Court Observations
“The prosecution has established the case against the accused. The sanction order is properly accorded by the sanctioning authority. The sanctioning authority at the relevant time was working as President of State Consumer Forum and the sanctioning authority is well known jurist retired as Justice of High Court. His evidence shows that he properly accorded the sanction after application of minds. Nothing has been shown from the evidence of any witnesses to discredit the case on the point of verification of demand of bribe, acceptance of bribe and recovery of the same. Accused has failed to give any explanation about how the money came in his possession,” the court maintained.
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Sentence Pronounced
The court has therefore sentenced Mankame to One year and a fine of Rs 1,000 for the offence under Section 7 of the PC Act. Further the accused have been sentenced to one year and a fine of Rs 1,000 for the offence under Section 13(1)(d) read with 13(2) of the PC Act, where both the sentences top run concurrently.
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