Latur, Apr 22 (PTI) A court in Maharashtra’s Latur district has sentenced a government employee to three years of rigorous imprisonment for demanding and accepting a bribe of Rs 1,000.

Additional district and sessions judge R B Rote on Monday found the accused, Vishnu Tulshidas Kale, a government clerk, guilty of charges under the Prevention of Corruption Act and sentenced him to three years of rigorous imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 5,000.

As per the court order, Kale will have to serve a simple imprisonment of a month if he fails to pay the fine.

According to the case details, the complainant submitted documents to the Latur District Stamp Office for a lease deed with the MIDC, Ahmedpur, on December 13, 2016. Although the stamp duty had already been paid through a challan, Kale demanded Rs 1,000 to issue the receipt and process the document.

The complainant approached the Anti-Corruption Bureau, and Kale was caught red-handed accepting the bribe in the presence of government witnesses.

A case was registered at Shivajinagar Police Station in Latur. PTI COR ARU