31 years after a Rs 100 bribe case began, 75-year-old former railway clerk to serve one year in jail; what happened in the decades long case
A Rs 100 bribe accepted at a Jhankhand railway station more than three decades ago has now ended with a one-year jail term for a former railway employee who is 75 years old. The Jharkhand High Court has upheld the conviction of Kali Shankar Dhobi, a former parcel clerk at Ranchi’s Hatia Railway Station, in a corruption case dating back to 1995. However, the court reduced his sentence after considering his advanced age, ill health and the fact that the case had remained in the legal system for nearly 31 years.
It started with a Rs 100 demand
According to the judgment in the Kal Shankar Dhobi v State of Jharkhand case, Dhobi was working as a parcel clerk at Hatia Railway Station in 1995. A man named Nirmal Kumar Begani had gone to the station to send his motorcycle from Hatia to Samastipur in Bihar. According to the Jharkhand High Court judgment, the prescribed railway charge was Rs 203 at the time. Dhobi demanded an additional Rs 100 to book the motorcycle and allegedly refused to book the motorcycle without the additional amount. Begani then approached the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). After verifying the complaint, the CBI laid a trap.
How the CBI caught Dhobi
AI representation/Gemini
The CBI trap was carried out on April 27, 1995, at Hatia Railway Station. According to the Jharkhand High Court judgment, the Rs 100 note intended for the alleged bribe was treated with phenolphthalein powder before the operation. Its number was recorded in the pre-trap memorandum. Two independent witnesses accompanied the complainant. The prosecution’s case was that after the motorcycle booking was processed, Dhobi demanded the additional Rs 100. Bengani handed over the treated note, which Dhobi allegedly accepted and placed in a drawer.After the pre-arranged signal was given, the CBI team entered the office. The treated Rs 100 note was recovered, and its number matched the number recorded before the trap. A chemical test was also conducted on Dhobi’s hand as part of the investigation. A corruption case was subsequently registered against him under the Prevention of Corruption Act.
Trial court convicted him in 2004
Following the CBI investigation, the case went before a special court. The trial itself lasted nearly nine years. In 2004, the special court convicted Dhobi and sentenced him to one year in prison and a Rs 4,000 fine under Section 7 of the Prevention of Corruption Act. He was also sentenced to one-and-a-half years in prison and a Rs 6,000 fine under Section 13(2). The two prison sentences were ordered to run concurrently. Dhobi challenged the conviction before the Jharkhand High Court.
Appeal remained pending for more than two decades
The appeal did not get resolved quickly. Proceedings in the High Court continued for more than two decades. The result came nearly 31 years after the original case began. On September 17, 2026, the Jharkhand High Court upheld Dhobi’s conviction. The court, however, gave him some relief on the sentence.
Why the sentence was reduced
By the time the High Court decided the appeal, Dhobi was 75 years old. The court considered several factors while reducing his punishment, including his advanced age, ill health and the prolonged duration of the proceedings. His railway job had already been lost following his conviction. It was also submitted before the High Court that he had no previous criminal record and that this was his first offence. The court reduced the one-year sentence under Section 7 to six months. The one-and-a-half-year sentence under Section 13(2) was reduced to one year.Because both sentences will run concurrently, Dhobi will effectively serve a maximum of one year in prison. The High Court also cancelled Dhobi’s bail and directed him to surrender within two months. The conviction, therefore, remains intact despite the reduction in punishment.
