(This story originally appeared in on Dec 9, 2016)

What do government officials do when they are caught red-handed accepting a bribe but the notes are old, demonetized ones? Correct; they plead not guilty as they would have accepted only worthless clumps of paper That may be a good opening para for a story but one would assume that corrupt officials would not use that plea in court. Incorrect; they did.On Thursday, the Lokayukta court was hearing the bail application of two officials who had been caught accepting a bribe of Rs 2.5 lakh. Anti-Corruption Bureau officials had laid a trap on November 29 for Basavaraju, assistant director, town planning department, and HC Ramachandra, assistant engineer, Mahadevapura town planning wing after a complaint by a Hoodi resident that they had demanded Rs 2.5 lakh to grant sanction for a building plan. ACB caught the duo accepting Rs 2.2 lakh; they also seized Rs 4.31 lakh from Ramachandra’s car. ACB officials also arrested a certain Shivu.When the case came up for hearing, the accused’s counsel mounted a spirited defence and, apart from resorting to other legal manoeuvres, said that ACB’s charge that the money was paid for a favour did not hold water as the notes had no value.“Their counsel said that the cash, which ACB claimed was bribe, could not be considered as it was in old currency and not valid on the day as per the government notification. They also put forth the argument that only legal or accounted cash could be deposited in banks and nothing could be done out of invalid or unaccounted cash; it couldn’t be deposited in banks either. And so the bribe demand showing old cash as was claimed by ACB was not maintainable,” a source in the Lokayukta court told Bangalore Mirror.But that wasn’t the only defence in their arsenal.“Their counsels also pointed out that there was no question of demand for money as no work was pending with the officials. They defended them stating that the town planning office had sought some documents required to sanction the plan. The issue of deliberately keeping the work pending – the key criteria for a trap case – didn’t arise and hence the case could be considered for bail,” the source said.The three were granted bail but not due to the demonetization argument. In cases where the sentence is less than 10 years – if the charge sticks – bail is usually granted to the accused.“The accused could have used the old demonetized notes in Metro, petrol bunks, etc. even if they could not deposit it in backs. This is a good case,” an official said.