The Special Anti-Corruption Court on Wednesday convicted a former rent collector attached to F ward, Matunga in 2016, for demanding a bribe of Rs10,000 from the complainant to transfer the house from his mother’s name to his name.
Almost nine years after the accused was caught red-handed, the special court sentenced Laxman Pawar to three years imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs25,000.
The prosecution claimed that the complainant wanted to transfer the registration of the room, which was in his mother’s name, to his name. Hence, he had approached the BMC rent collector, the post which was occupied by Pawar. Pawar had initially demanded Rs20,000 to do the same. However, as the complainant did not wish to pay a bribe to the public servant, they filed a written complaint in person at the Anti-Corruption Bureau, Mumbai fivision on August 18, 2016.
During the verification of the complaint, Pawar was found to have demanded the money. Later, a sting operation was carried out wherein Pawar was caught red-handed accepting Rs10,000 from the complainant. The complaint was formally lodged on August 19, 2016. The chargesheet was filed a year later in September 2017.
