Thane, May 29 A special CBI court in Thane has acquitted a former central government employee accused of accepting a bribe of Rs 800, observing that mere recovery of currency notes without absolute proof of a demand was insufficient to hold him guilty.
Special Judge D S Deshmukh on Thursday acquitted Arvind Motiram Sawant, who worked as a clerk in the office of the Registrar of Companies (ROC) at CBD Belapur, Navi Mumbai, at the time of the alleged offence in August 2006.
According to the prosecution, the complainant had approached the ROC to urgently obtain certified copies of the incorporation documents and the Memorandum of Association of a private company to initiate legal proceedings against unauthorised constructions.
It was alleged that Sawant demanded Rs 1,000 to expedite the process, which was later brought down to Rs 800. After being alerted, the CBI laid a trap on August 22, 2006, and recovered “tainted” currency notes from the accused.
However, during cross-examination, the defence established that the accused was not the final signing authority for issuing certified copies and lacked the jurisdiction to release documents in the custody of the ROC.
The court also noted that the standard official protocol involved depositing fees via a challan, and the discussed amount could have been related to the state’s official challan charges rather than a personal bribe.
It also said that the electronic footprint produced by the prosecution did not directly implicate the accused.
“The evidence of recovery of tainted amount from an accused 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,” the court said, acquitting Sawant of all charges.
