Two Thane court staffers acquitted in bribery case

Thane, May 11 (PTI) A special court here has acquitted two staffers of the district court in Maharashtra’s Thane accused of taking bribes to provide copies of certified bail applications. Additional sessions judge D B Bangde held that the prosecution had failed to prove the charges against the alleged accused, and hence, they need to be given the benefit of the doubt.

A copy of the order dated April 16 was made available on Saturday. The court acquitted clerk Maya Shivaji Kasbe and Sunil Namdeo Muley from the Thane district court.

Special public prosecutor Sanjay More informed the court that the complainant had applied to the court for certified copies of some bail applications.

In the record section, Kasbe demanded Rs 1,000 to Rs 2,000 to provide the copies and after negotiations, the sum was brought down to Rs 700.

In March 2015, a team from the anti-corruption bureau laid a trap and caught the clerk accepting the bribe amount.

Four prosecution witnesses, including the then district judge RR Gandhi, were examined during the trial.The court order stated that the prosecution failed to prove that the complainant had his work pending with the accused clerk when the trap was laid.