Woman patwari gets 5-year rigorous imprisonment for taking bribe

BILASPUR: A special court of Raigarh has awarded five years of rigorous imprisonment to a woman patwari for allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs 10,000 from a man for verification of land. Also, a fine of Rs 80,000 has been imposed on her. This is the first case of the district wherein a woman government has been awarded a sentence. The matter is four-years-old.
According to facts of the case, complainant Dayashankar Darshan along with two of his friends, had purchased half an acre of agricultural land in Chiple village in Kharsia block of Raigarh district. Darshan had submitted registration papers of the said land deal to patwari Sadhna Mishra, who demanded Rs 10,000 for verification of the same. When Darshan expressed his inability to pay the amount, Sadhna Mishra refused to verify the land deal.
On December 20, 2012, Darshan approached Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) Bilaspur and lodged a written complaint in this connection. ACB officials asked Darshan to approach Sadhna Mishra again and record her demand for the bribe. Accordingly, Darshan again approached Sadhna Mishra, who agreed to verify his land deal for Rs 8,500 this time. She also asked him to come to his office with the amount within a fortnight. Darshan submitted the recording to ACB and lodged another complaint against the patwari. ACB team laid a trap on August 18, 2012 and caught Sadhna Mishra red-handed while accepting the money.