Mumbai: Special ACB Court Acquits Former Assistant Labour Commissioner, Clerk In ₹20,000 Bribery Case
· Free Press Journal
Mumbai, November 12, 2026: A special Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) court has acquitted a former Assistant Labour Commissioner and a clerk booked for demanding and accepting a total bribe of Rs 20,000 from a man seeking registration of the city's sculptors' association, citing lack of evidence.
The court observed that mere recovery of currency notes and detection of anthracene powder were insufficient to establish corruption in the absence of reliable evidence proving that the money was demanded and voluntarily accepted as a bribe.
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The accused, Anand Dhanaji Bhosale, then Assistant Labour Commissioner, and Tanaji Dnyanoba Salunkhe, a senior clerk, were booked on the complaint of Suresh Prabhakar Sharma, general secretary of the proposed association, Shri Ganesh Murtikar Kamgar Sanghatana.
Complainant Alleges Bribe Demand
Sharma claimed that he wanted to get the union registered with the Labour Commissioner, but he was allegedly first asked to pay Rs 25,000 by Salunkhe. The amount was subsequently reduced to Rs 15,000 by Bhosale. Salunkhe allegedly demanded an additional Rs 5,000 for himself.
Unwilling to pay the money, Sharma approached the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB), following which a verification and trap were arranged on January 6, 2021. During the operation, the complainant allegedly handed over Rs 15,000 to Bhosale and Rs 5,000 to Salunkhe.
Court Finds Gaps In Prosecution's Case
However, during the trial, Special Judge AG Deshmukh found several gaps in the prosecution's story. The court noted that the verification recording did not contain an explicit demand for the separate Rs 5,000 allegedly sought by Salunkhe. The investigating officer had also admitted that the alleged demand was absent from the recording.
Further, the court noted that while Rs 5,000 was recovered from Salunkhe's trouser pocket, the Rs 15,000 allegedly paid to Bhosale was recovered from a bag in the office premises. The court held that the prosecution had failed to satisfactorily establish Bhosale's conscious acceptance of the amount.
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The court held that merely on the basis of recovery of money or detection of anthracene powder, without first establishing the foundational facts of demand and acceptance, the accused cannot be held guilty of corruption charges.
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