Special Judge B R Kedia absolved Mukesh Sharma, a Patwari in Tehsildar's office at the Tis Hazari Court Complex here, of the charges of accepting Rs 10,000 as bribe from complainant Naresh Saini saying the reason behind the demand of bribe had not been established.
Sharma had allegedly demanded the bribe to modify the land records in favour of the complainant when the records were already in his (complainant's) favour.
"It is clearly established that no land of the complainant Naresh Saini and his family members has been wrongfully transferred in the revenue record at any point of time.
"Therefore, the very basis of demand of the bribe by the accused i.E. Getting modification in the revenue record for restoring the land in favour of the complainant and his family members could not be established...The case of the prosecution is found to suffer from legal and factual infirmities," the judge said.
According to prosecution, Sharma had registered Saini's land in the revenue records in favour of some other persons and in order to restore the same in his name, the official had demanded Rs 25,000 with Rs 10,000 as advance payment.
Saini had then lodged a complaint on June 28, 2005 with the Anti-Corruption Branch, which laid a trap and allegedly caught Sharma red-handed while accepting Rs 10,000 as bribe.
Sharma's counsel had contended there was no wrongful entry of the complainant's land in someone else's name and thus, there was no motive for the accused to demand the bribe.