Eleven years on, retired assistant rationing officer acquitted in bribery case

Mumbai: Eleven years after a retired assistant rationing officer was booked in a bribery case, a special court on Friday acquitted the 63-year-old man, observing that the prosecution failed to provide "cogent and convincing evidence" to prove either a demand for money or its voluntary acceptance. Sanjay Sawardekar was accused of demanding Rs 1 lakh, later negotiated down to Rs 80,000, to process the transfer of a rationing shop licence in 2015.In a 61-page order, special judge Shayana Patil noted that prosecution failed to establish that the demand for bribe by accused was duly verified under any trap procedure undertaken by the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB). "On the contrary, it is made out by the defence that the application by the complainant's son for execution of an order in his favour was kept pending awaiting decision from Mantralaya. It can be believed that neither the accused nor his superior officer had the authority to proceed with the application or even to promise the complainant or his son about an order in his favour as it was pending before Mantralaya and not before them," the judge said. The case, initiated by the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB), centered on a complaint by Hitesh Ganatra. Ganatra alleged that Sawardekar and another senior official demanded a bribe to execute an order from Mantralaya to transfer a shop licence exclusively into the name of Ganatra's son, Riddhesh. The judge noted gaps in the prosecution's narrative, particularly the failure to examine Riddhesh, who was described as a primary witness to the initial demands.