Daijiworld Media Network - Bidar (SP)

Bidar, Dec 25: Civil judge (senior grade) of Basavakalyana in the district, Sharanappa Sajjan, had suddenly resigned from his post on Tuesday December 23. Enquiries made had failed to reveal reasons for this action. On Wednesday, it was revealed that the vigilance cell had nabbed the judge in question when accepting bribe, and relating to this case, the judge had tendered his resignation.

In this connection, a person named Keerthiraj Posthe informed a Kannada daily that the judge had demanded for payment of a bribe of five lac rupees for entrusting the post of the president of Guru Basaveshwara Educational Trust in Hulsur village along with returning ten acres of land it owned to the trust. Posthe said that the judge was caught red-handed by the vigilance cell.

The judge,speaking to the said newspaper however, reportedly said over phone that Posthe had fixed him through a devious act. He said he has been building a house at his native place, Sindhanur, and that he has sought hand loan of one lac rupees from Posthe. Posthe used this opportunity to project this money as bribe, he claimed.

Posthe claims that his father,Kashinathrao Posthe, was the president of the above institution,, which owns ten acres of land, from 1963 to 1975,but that in 1975, Shivananda Mahaswami of Hulsur had become its president by bribing some officials. He said his father had been fighting legally against this injustice since the last 28 years, for getting back ten acres of land for the institution and to get the post of the president for his son. He said that when he had come to the court for hearing recently with his father, two staff members of the court had approached him with an offer of deciding the case in their favour subject to payment of five lac rupees. After Posthe wanted to personally meet the judge, The judge, who met him in a park, repeated the above demand, it is being claimed.

Posthe said he accepted the offer and informed district judge,Sanjeev Kumar Hanchate. He feels that the district judge would have alerted the vigilance cell. On December 22 evening, the vigilance cell led by deputy superintendent of police, Ramalinge Gowda, got in contact over phone, and as per information, caught the judge after he accepted a part of the agreed amount and demanded for the balance, he explained.