A Thane court has discharged a civic officer from the Mira Bhayander Municipal Corporation (MBMC) in a 2017 bribery case, stating that the prosecution’s sanction under the Prevention of Corruption Act was not valid. The ruling was delivered by Additional Sessions Judge Suryakant S Shinde on April 4 and a copy of the court's order was made available on Saturday, according to PTI.

The officer in question, Dr Prakash Harishchandra Jadhav, aged 55 at the time of the incident, was serving as an in-charge medical officer (Class-1) with MBMC. He had been accused of soliciting liquor bottles as bribe in exchange for facilitating the complainant’s appointment as a medical officer.