Bombay high court MUMBAI: Holding that a prior prosecution has to be 'free from possibility of bias against the public servant', the Bombay high court set aside a 2012 conviction of police constable in Mumbai Crime Investigation Department (CID) for a Rs 300 bribery case. The HC judgement by Justice SK Shinde on February 5, also held that the sanction was invalid and 'illegal' as it was issued by an officer not competent to do so. The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) in June 2009 had trapped Uttam Ajgekar, a constable with CID in a Mumbai hotel on a complaint of his demand to grant a ‘character report’ to a complainant for his application to a Regional Transport Office. A special court had sentenced him to a year in jail and Rs 1,000 fine, which he had appealed against.