Mumbai, March 5: In a case that highlights the slow speed of disposal rate of cases in the courts, a doctor who was accused of accepting a Rs 100 bribe in return of a death certificate 32-years-ago was cleared by the Bombay High Court close to 4 years after his death. The wife and daughter of the doctor fought the case even after his death in order to get his name cleared, reported The Times of India. Hookah Ban in Maharashtra: Restaurant Owners Move Bombay High Court Challenging Govt Order.

Late Dr Nishikant Kulkarni and his peon Kadar Shaikh were acquitted by Justice Sadhana Jadhav. Dr Kulkarni worked as a medical officer at Manmad Municipal Hospital.

The case dates back to September 1987 and the complainant in the case Manohar Mulchandani approached the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) claiming the doctor had demanded a bribe of Rs 150 and later settled for Rs 100 for issuing a death certificate for his brother.

The ACB then laid a trap and allegedly caught Shaikh with the money which was handed to him by Mulchandani. A sessions court then sentenced Dr Kulkarni and Shaikh one-year prison statement and pronounced them guilty.

Dr Kulkarni and Shaikh challenged the Session's court judgment in the high court. There, Advocate Rithesh Thobde represented the accused and said that they were falsely implicated in the case. He said that they was no independent probe of the case as the shadow witness in the case had died. The Bombay High Court ruled that Dr Nishikant Kulkarni and Kadar Shaikh were innocent and that it cannot be established that they accepted bribe.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 05, 2019 04:13 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).