Judge, who took cow, goat from plaintiff, held in court room

In a first-of-its-kind incident, a magistrate in Bihar's Rohtas district was arrested from his courtroom for accepting a bribe from a woman plaintiff.

The executive magistrate, G K Ram, who also officiates as deputy collector, was hearing a land dispute case at Sasaram, the district headquarters of Rohtas.

To pass a judgement in favour of the woman complainant, Shakuntla Devi, whose land was earlier attached and Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) invoked, the magistrate reportedly sought a bribe of Rs 10,000 from her.

Earlier, he had reportedly taken a cow worth Rs 40,000 and a goat worth Rs 8000 from her to pass a favourable judgement. But as his greed increased, he asked for another bribe of Rs 10,000.

Shakuntla, who has a humble background, found it difficult to fulfill the magistrate's demand. She instead contacted the vigilance bureau in the state capital.

"The vigilance sleuths, after verifying her charges, laid a trap and apprehended Ram from his official chamber on Thursday when he was accepting a bribe from Shakuntla Devi," said a senior official, aware of the developments.

The vigilance team, led by Deputy Superintendent of Police Bimalendu Verma, interrogated the executive magistrate and later took him to the vigilance office in Patna for further questioning and action.