Nearly three decades after accepting a bribe of ₹500, a village accountant from Kadoli in Belagavi taluk has finally been sent to jail following a Supreme Court order.
Nagesh Dondu Shivangekar, the accused accountant, was arrested on Wednesday and lodged in Hindalaga jail, confirmed Lokayukta SP Hanumantharaya.
The incident dates back to 1995 when Kadoli farmer Lakshman Rukkanna Katambale had applied for a land division along with his brother. Nagesh, then serving as the village accountant, demanded a bribe of ₹500 to issue the required land transfer document (Uthara).
Acting on the farmer’s complaint, the Lokayukta officials laid a trap and caught Nagesh red-handed while accepting the bribe. A chargesheet was filed by the then Deputy Superintendent of the Belagavi District Lokayukta.
In 2006, the Belagavi Special Court convicted Nagesh, sentencing him to one year of rigorous imprisonment and a fine of ₹1,000. However, he appealed the verdict in the Karnataka High Court, which acquitted him in 2012.
Unwilling to let the case rest, the Lokayukta appealed to the Supreme Court. On April 16, 2025, the apex court overturned the High Court’s acquittal and upheld the original conviction by the Special Court. Following this, an arrest warrant was issued, and Nagesh was taken into custody this week.