New Delhi [India], January 29 (HBTV): A CBI court in Rouse Avenue has acquitted former MCD Councillor Geeta Rawat of corruption charges.

In February 2022, it was alleged that she accepted a bribe, but the prosecution could not prove the allegations beyond reasonable doubt. She was an MCD councillor from Vinod Nagar in East Delhi.

Special CBI judge Sanjeev Aggarwal on Monday acquitted Geeta Rawat, along with two other accused—Naushad Ahmed and Sanaullah—giving them the benefit of the doubt.

Special Judge Aggarwal stated that the acceptance of a bribe is an essential condition of Section 7 of the Prevention of Corruption Act (PC Act), which had not been proven in this case. He said that, considering the overall evidence and the facts presented, the prosecution failed to establish a case under Section 7 of the PC Act.

‘Since the yardstick which is to be achieved by the prosecution in a criminal trial is probabilistic in nature, the prosecution should prove its case against an accused beyond reasonable doubt. The probabilities of the prosecution case, or the probative force of its case as a whole, should be beyond any sort of reasonable doubt against the accused, which the prosecution has failed to achieve in the present case,’ the special judge held in the judgment passed on January 27, 2025.

As a result, all accused—Geeta Rawat, Naushad Ahmed, and Sanaullah alias Bilal—stand acquitted of the charges under Section 120B read with Section 7 of the PC Act, 1988.

The court also acquitted Rawat of the substantial charge under Section 7 of the PC Act, 1988. Advocates Sanjay Gupta and Rajkamal Arya appeared for Geeta Rawat.

The investigation had revealed that a verification conducted on February 17, 2022, confirmed that Geeta Rawat, the then councillor of West Vinod Nagar, Delhi, had allegedly demanded a bribe of INR 20,000 from Jitender Kumar (Munshi of the complaint). The verification memo, prepared in the presence of independent witness Amit Kumar Soni, Salim Ali (complainant), and Jitender Kumar, led to the filing of an FIR by the CBI.

It was alleged that Geeta Rawat, through her husband Dilwan Singh Rawat, had demanded INR 20,000 to allow the construction of a plot in D-Block, West Vinod Nagar, from complainant Saleem Ali.

A charge sheet was filed on February 21, 2023, and on May 29, 2023, cognizance of the offense(s) was taken. On March 16, 2024, charges under Section 120B IPC read with Section 7 of the PC Act, 1988 were framed against all accused, with Geeta Rawat also charged for the substantive offense under Section 7 of the PC Act, 1988.

(ANI)