16 years on, retired IT officer gets convicted in graft case

More than 16 years after he was trapped while taking a bribe, an Income Tax officer, since retired, was sentenced to one year's rigorous imprisonment by a court here.
District judge Vilas V Bambarde last week convicted Nivrutti Lokhande (75).
Apart from the prison sentence, the court also imposed a fine of Rs 10,000 on Lokhande, who served at the IT Department's Vashi office.
The judge said he was awarding the minimum possible sentence under the Prevention of Corruption Act, considering the accused's age and the prolonged period of trial.
Special CBI prosecutor Rahul Agarwal said that Lokhande demanded Rs 25,000 from a chartered accountant representing an oil mill to clear its tax assessment file. After negotiations, he agreed to accept Rs 15,000.

After the chartered accountant approached the CBI, a trap was laid and Lokhande was caught while accepting Rs 15,000 on March 13, 2001, the prosecutor said.