STATE OF MAHARASHTRA vs RASHID B. MULANI — Crl.A. No. 557/1999

Summary The Supreme Court allowed the State's appeal and restored the conviction of Rashid B. Mulani, a Talathi (village revenue officer), for accepting illegal gratification of Rs.300 from a complainant in exchange for removing mortgage names from land records. The Court rejected the accused's belated explanation that the payment was towards a government loan debt, finding it unsupported by evidence and noting the accused had fabricated a demand notice certificate post-facto. While upholding guilt under IPC Section 161 and Prevention of Corruption Act Section 5(2), the Court reduced the sentence from one year to four months considering the 19-year delay and accused's age and background. This case analysis is maintained by casestatus.in based on publicly available court records.