Rats Ate Bribe Money: Bihar Official Gets Supreme Court Relief

A bench of Justices JB Pardiwala and KV Viswanathan stayed the conviction of Aruna Kumari, a Bihar government officer serving as a child development programme officer, and granted her bail. The court indicated that the matter would be heard in detail on a later date. The bench expressed astonishment that the seized currency notes in the case had been eaten by rats, calling this a significant loss of state revenue and raising questions about such incidents. The explanation for the destruction of the notes offered by authorities did not appear credible, according to the prosecution’s record. Kumari was accused of demanding a bribe of Rs 10,000 under the Prevention of Corruption Act. The trial court had acquitted her, but the Patna High Court later overturned that verdict and sentenced her to imprisonment. The High Courts had acknowledged that the notes could not be produced as evidence due to rat destruction but held that an entry in the property room register recording the deposit of the bribe money was sufficient to sustain the conviction. The Supreme Court has stayed that finding pending fuller hearing.