Retired village accountant arrested as SC upholds Lokayukta action in 30-yr-old case
Belagavi Lokayukta arrested 75-year-old Nagesh Dondu Shivangekar, a retired village accountant, on the charge of demanding and accepting ₹500 bribe 30 years ago.
This follows a Supreme Court judgment that upholds the Lokayukta's trap and the subsequent arrest of Nagesh in Kadoli village in 1995.
A team of officers picked up Nagesh from his house and took him to the Hindalga Jail on Wednesday.
A release from Lokayukta Superintendent of Police Hanumantharaya said that the anti-corruption agency officers arrested Nagesh when he accepted the bribe from complainant Laxman Katambale, a farmer who wanted documents of his family's land.
The Belagavi Lokayukta Deputy Superintendent of Police then filed a charge-sheet before court. The special court in Belagavi convicted Nagesh in 2006, sentencing him to one year rigorous imprisonment and imposed a fine of ₹1,000 under the Prevention of Corruption Act and other legislation.
But he won an appeal in the High Court that acquitted him in 2012.
However, the Lokayukta lawyers appealed against this in the Supreme Court. The final judgment was issued on April 16 this year. An arrest warrant was issued later, the Superintendent of Police said.
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