india

Updated: Jun 23, 2019 02:05 IST

A 39-year-old assistant public prosecutor (APP) was arrested by the anti-corruption bureau (ACB) on Saturday afternoon, after she was caught accepting a bribe of Rs 50,000 in an Andheri court.

The accused, Priti Rajaram Jagtap, had demanded the money from a man who was undergoing a trial for a compoundable offence, in which he can make a compromise with his complainant to get his charges dropped.

According to the ACB, the man was booked in 2012 for cheating several people of money using a bogus financial scheme. “He was arrested and was in jail for eight months. But to settle the dispute with the complainant, he sold his land and was repaying the money,” the officer said.

“In compoundable offences, the court asks the APP for their say,” said an ACB officer. Jagtap, the man had told them, asked for the bribe in exchange for a favourable say in court.

Since he did not wish to pay her, he approached the ACB and informed them of his situation. On Saturday, the ACB laid a trap at the Andheri metropolitan court and caught Jagtap taking the bribe.

In a similar case, APP Swati M Shinde, 52, attached with the metropolitan court in Sewri, was arrested for allegedly accepting a Rs 5,000 bribe in July 2017 to help fight a house break-in case in a higher court.

According to the ACB, the man accused of the crime had been acquitted by the Sewri court earlier for lack of evidence. But he needed certified copies of the case fought at Sewri, so as to appeal in a higher court.

The complainant, ACB officers said, approached Shinde for copies of the case but she demanded money to help him out.