Caught red-handed by ACB, Pune court clerk gobbles Rs 1500 cash

The accused demanded bribe from a complainant who approached the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB), which laid a trap and caught the court clerk red-handed. In order to escape the trap, the clerk tried to eat the cash

On Thursday, the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) laid a trap and arrested a clerk working at the Shivajinagar District Court for allegedly taking a bribe to provide photocopies of a charge sheet to a complainant. The accused, identified as Prasanna Kumar Bhagwat (50), was caught red-handed by the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) while taking the bribe.

The incident came to light when a 31-year-old resident from Bibewadi approached ACB with regards to the clerk demanding a bribe. Acting on the tip-off, the team of ACB laid a trap around 4 pm at Shivajinagar Session court building and caught the clerk red-handed while accepting a bribe of Rs 1,500 from the complainant at the entrance of the courtroom.

While speaking to mid-day, ACB Superintendent of police Sandeep Diwan said, "Such copies can be procured free or with a nominal amount as per the legal process. The complainant's brother case was going on and he wanted to have a photocopy of the judgment for which he had approached the clerk. Initially, the clerk delayed in giving the photocopy but later demanded Rs 1,500 cash to provide the complainant the judgment copy and the charge sheet document."

The ACB further added, "Based on which it was decided that on Thursday the complainant would give the cash to the clerk in the court premises. On Thursday, our officials were deployed in huge numbers in the court premises in layman clothes as we cannot video shoot in the court premises. Bhagwat accepted the cash near the corridor and we immediately caught hold of him. In order to escape, he tried to eat the cash but our police officers pressed his nose and removed the cash. We have arrested him and probing the matter.

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