Ex-Railway Pointsman Acquitted of Bribery After 18 Years

Thane, Sep 5 (PTI): After an 18-year legal ordeal, a former railway pointsman has been acquitted by a special court in Thane of bribery charges. The court, presided over by Special CBI Judge D S Deshmukh, stated that the prosecution failed to present incriminating evidence against Shivaji Shripat Mashal. In a verdict dated September 2, whose details were released on Friday, all charges against Mashal were dropped.

The case, filed by the prosecution, alleged that the then station master of Kalyan station, Omprakash Tipanna Ninne, demanded a monthly bribe of Rs 1,000 from a boot polish contractor. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) was alerted by the contractor, laying a trap to catch Mashal allegedly accepting the bribe on behalf of Ninne on March 2, 2007. However, the court found that there was no proof of bribe demand or acceptance involving Mashal, who was merely a pointsman assigned to the task as Ninne’s regular peon was absent that day.

Both the complainant and Ninne passed away during the lengthy trial. The prosecution’s case rested on two witnesses, whose depositions were deemed insufficient to support the claims against Mashal. Judge Deshmukh highlighted that the CBI itself sought to withdraw the case due to significant issues, noting the absence of any mention of Mashal in the complaint or in the agency’s verification proceedings.

In his ruling, Judge Deshmukh concluded that the prosecution could not prove that Mashal had accepted a bribe of Rs 1,000 on behalf of the now-deceased station master.