A Mumbai judge and his clerk face serious corruption charges after the ACB caught the clerk accepting a ₹15-lakh bribe for a favourable land dispute order. The shocking case exposes deep-rooted judicial malpractice in the city’s courts.
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MUMBAI: The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) has arrested a clerk-cum-typist and booked an Additional Sessions Judge from the Mazgaon Civil and Sessions Court for allegedly demanding and accepting a ₹15-lakh bribe from a businessman in exchange for a favourable order in a land dispute case.
According to ACB officials, the accused clerk, Chandrakant Vasudev (40), allegedly approached the complainant claiming he could secure a favourable judgment from Judge Aejazuddin Kazi (55), who presides over the 14th Court in Mazgaon. Vasudev initially demanded ₹25 lakh, ₹10 lakh for himself and ₹15 lakh for the judge.
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The complainant’s wife owns a company whose land was allegedly encroached upon in 2015. The Bombay High Court had, in April 2016, restrained the creation of third-party rights on the property. The matter was transferred to the Mazgaon court in March 2024, where a commercial suit was filed.
On September 9 this year, after a hearing in the case, Vasudev allegedly called the complainant and made the bribe offer. A meeting was arranged in Chembur on September 12, during which the ₹25-lakh demand was reiterated. Despite repeated pressure from Vasudev, the complainant refused to pay and later approached the ACB’s Mumbai office in Worli on November 10.
Acting on the complaint, the ACB instructed the complainant to negotiate the amount down to ₹15 lakh. During the trap operation, Vasudev accepted the money and informed the judge that it had been received. He was immediately caught red-handed and arrested.
Following the operation, Judge Kazi was booked as a co-accused under Sections 7 (public servant taking gratification other than legal remuneration) and 12 (abetment of offences) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988.
“The clerk accepted the bribe on behalf of the judge and was caught during the trap. The investigation is underway,”
an ACB official said.
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