Mumbai, April 18, 2026: The special court for cases under the Prevention of Corruption Act has acquitted a 56-year-old Badlapur resident, Namdeo Dhomase, who was posted as a traffic head constable in 2016, of charges of demanding and accepting a bribe for releasing a taxi of the complainant.
Complaint and allegations of bribery
Dhomase was booked on the complaint of Vimal Soni, who used to rent his taxi to one Harish. On December 10, 2016, Soni claimed that Harish came to him and informed that the police constable caught the taxi while he was taking it to the Tardeo office for a fitness examination.
It was claimed that Dhomase, upon examination, had stated that the taxi was no longer fit to be used on the road and had passed the period of eligibility.
It was alleged that the constable had asked Harish to pay a bribe of Rs 10,000 to get his taxi released and to avoid any further action. The bribe amount was reduced to Rs 4,000 and the constable took the car keys from Harish.
Trap laid by anti-corruption authorities
Since Soni did not wish to pay the bribe amount, he lodged a complaint against the constable on December 14, 2016. A trap was arranged and Dhomase was caught accepting Rs 4,000, out of which he gave a receipt of Rs 400 and the rest of the amount of Rs 3,600 was taken as a bribe.
Court notes inconsistencies in prosecution case
During the trial, it was revealed that Harish was not present in the city at the relevant time but was at his native place, which the court said contradicted the prosecution case.
Further, as per the prosecution case, the amount of bribe was recovered from the right-side pocket of his shirt. When the notes were examined under the UV lamp, they had traces of anthracene powder. However, the court noted that no traces were found on the shirt, which created reasonable doubt.
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Accused acquitted due to lack of evidence
With such discrepancies, the court acquitted Dhomase for want of evidence.
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