Caught Accepting Bribe Of Rs 7k, Government Official Gets 5 Yrs Rigorous Imprisonment

A special court for cases under Prevention of Corruption Act in Bengaluru on Monday sentenced a co-operative development officer to five years of rigorous imprisonment for accepting a bribe of Rs 7,500 five years ago. Judge Lakshminarayana Bhat K of the 23rd city civil and sessions court also directed the convict to pay a fine of Rs 10,000.
The convict, H P Sadashiva, works with the office of the deputy registrar of cooperative societies in Bengaluru's Chamarajpet and is a resident of Kashinagar in Yelachenahalli, off Kanakapura Road. In August 2017, he was caught by the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) while accepting a bribe of Rs 7,500 from an individual.
The ACB, in its statement, said, Sadashiva demanded bribes from a person who had approached him to register Dhanushree Apartment Owners' Association. A charge sheet explaining the same was submitted to the special court in September 2018.
The prosecution faced a major hurdle when the shadow witness in the case turned hostile but a telephonic conversation between the complainant and Sadashiva proved to be crucial in the case. A shadow witness is a government official who accompanies the complainant in the guise of a common man while he or she hands over a bribe to the accused officer. The statement of the shadow witness plays a crucial role in courts, an ACB officer said. Public prosecutor Santosh Nagarle argued the case on behalf of the ACB.
A Karnataka Power Transmission Corporation (KPTCL) official, the shadow witness in the case, turned hostile saying that he could not remember the complainant handing over the cash to Sadashiva but when recorded clips of telephonic conversations – running up to 15-20 minutes – was handed over, the judge upheld the electronic evidence and convicted Sadashiva, the ACB officer added.