Declared Innocent After 30 Years In Jail Over Rs 20 Bribe Case, Man Dies Next Day

Last Updated:February 07, 2026, 20:03 IST

According to the court, there were serious contradictions in the witnesses' statements and the prosecution failed to prove the charges.

A man who spent nearly three decades in prison over a bribe case involving just Rs 20 was finally declared innocent, only to die a day after his release, in a tragic twist that has sparked outrage and renewed questions about India’s criminal justice system.

“The stigma has been removed from my life. Even if god takes me away, I will have no sorrow," he said after the Gujarat High Court on February 4 in its verdict said he was innocent.

Police constable Babubhai Prajapati was posted in Ahmedabad when allegations surfaced that he had accepted a bribe of Rs 20. The case was registered against him under the Prevention of Corruption Act.

A chargesheet was filed against him in a sessions court in 1997, with charges framed in 2002. Witness hearings began in 2003, and in 2004, the court convicted Prajapati, sentencing him to four years in prison and imposing a fine of Rs 3,000.

Prajapati challenged the sessions court decision in the Gujarat High Court. Thereafter, his appeal remained pending for 22 years – until February 4 this year when the verdict that said he was innocent came, NDTV reported.

According to the court, there were serious contradictions in the witnesses’ statements and the prosecution failed to prove the charges.

Lawyer Nitin Gandhi, who represented Prajapati, told the high court that the entire case was based on suspicion.

After the judgment, Prajapati gave the poignant, prophetic lines in his lawyer’s office. Then he returned home. The very next day, he died of natural causes.

His well-wishers said it would have been a joy to see him live a little longer. “When he came to the office yesterday, he was very happy because he had been acquitted," the lawyer said.

“I told him, ‘uncle, you should apply for all the benefits you are entitled to from the government’… I called him again the next day, only to be told he died of a heart attack," the lawyer said.

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