Rajkot: Adjudicating a seven-year-old graft case, a special Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) court in Rajkot sentenced an income tax officer, now retired, to four years of rigorous imprisonment for demanding and accepting a bribe of Rs 15,000.Special ACB Judge V K Bhatt also imposed a fine of Rs 1 lakh on 66-year-old Maulesh Mehta, noting that failure to pay the fine would result in an additional six months of simple imprisonment.The incident dates back to March 2019, when Mehta served at the Rajkot office. He issued a notice to a share broker, Amit Joshi, raising a query regarding his income tax returns for the financial year 2011-12. When Joshi visited Mehta’s chamber along with his chartered accountant, Ravi Takwani, Mehta demanded Rs 20,000 to resolve the query and prevent further legal procedures. After negotiations, the bribe amount was fixed at Rs 15,000, which Mehta accepted in his office on March 12, 2019.Acting as a vigilant citizen, Joshi secretly recorded the conversations regarding the bribe demand and its acceptance on his mobile phone. A month later, he filed a formal complaint by emailing the ACB headquarters in Ahmedabad. After the primary investigation, a case against Mehta was registered.During the trial, the prosecution presented electronic evidence to back the charges. The secret audio recordings were analysed by the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL). A voice spectrography test positively matched the voices in the recording to Mehta, Joshi, and the CA. “The court relied on this electronic evidence, the FSL reports, and the supporting testimony of the CA, who was present during the conversation, to establish guilt beyond a reasonable doubt,” said district govt pleader S K Vora.Delivering the judgment on February 27, the court convicted Mehta under Section 7(a) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 (Amended 2018), though he was acquitted of charges under Section 13(2). The defence pleaded for leniency in punishment, citing his age, long career, and serious health issues, including heart problems and poor vision. However, the court ruled that a highly educated public servant engaging in corruption harms society and the nation.Following the verdict, Mehta’s bail was cancelled, and he was ordered to be taken into custody immediately.
