9 hours Ago By Abhijeet Patil
Representative image KOLHAPUR: A district and sessions judge in Maharashtra's Satara is among four people named in an FIR filed by Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) for allegedly seeking a bribe of Rs 5 lakh from a Pune woman in return for granting her father bail in a case of financial fraud. Deputy SP Dayanand Gawade of ACB's Pune unit said Wednesday that the judge and his alleged accomplices had been charged with offences under sections 7 and 7-A (bribery involving a public servant) and 12 (abetment of offence) of the Prevention of Corruption Act and Section 3 (5) (common intention) of the new penal code BNS. "We are initiating the process to secure Bombay HC's permission to arrest the judge," another ACB official in Pune said.
The judge could not be reached for comment. The FIR states that one of the three other suspects approached her with an offer of a "favourable bail order" for her father from the judge in exchange for Rs 5 lakh. On Dec 9, the woman reached Satara to strike a "deal" with the judge, who allegedly drove to the appointed place outside the court complex for the meeting.
Two other middlemen were waiting there. It alleges that on his instructions, two of the middlemen reached a hotel to collect the bribe. The woman told them she wouldn't pay anyone other than the person who organised her meeting with the judge.
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