It is hard to believe, but two government officials in Bangalore have actually argued that the ₹2.2 lakh which they allegedly took as bribe money is not a bribe because it is made up of demonetised notes.
Anti-Corruption Bureau officials nabbed Basavaraju and H.C. Ramachandra, two officials in the town planning department, accepting ₹2.2 lakh as a bribe in exchange for giving their sanction to a building plan, Bangalore Mirrorreported today.
Citing a source in the Lokayukta court, Bangalore Mirrorreported that the counsel of the two officials argued that cash in question was in old notes, and not valid since the Modi government had scrapped ₹500 and ₹1000 notes on 9 November.
"They also put forth the argument that only legal or accounted cash could be deposited in banks and nothing could be done out of invalid or unaccounted cash; it couldn't be deposited in banks either. And so the bribe demand showing old cash as was claimed by ACB was not maintainable," the source told the newspaper.
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