Bribe case: Tax inspector gets 2-year jail

TNN | Aug 14, 2013

NEW DELHI: A trial court has sentenced a tax inspector of Delhi government to two years imprisonment for accepting Rs 4,500 as bribe from a cable service provider who had entertainment tax dues.

Special CBI judge Manoj Jain convicted Krishan Sharawat for accepting the bribe and imposed a fine of Rs 20,000 on him. Sharawat was an inspector in the entertainment tax department and was apprehended in a trap laid by the CBI on a complaint of one Harjeet Singh in 2007.

According to prosecution, Singh was in the business of providing cable service called Balaji Cable TV Network. In November 2007, Sharawat with his team visited Singh's office and seized some documents. When Singh met Sharawat he was told that he had not deposited the entertainment tax for several months.

Singh then deposited the tax for two months. Singh later received a notice asking him to appear in the office of the department. He met Sharawat again on December 11, 2007 and was asked for a bribe of Rs 4,500 by him. Sharawat claimed he would get his tax adjusted and would also get the time limit for depositing the tax extended. He also promised not to check his cable connections.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/Bribe-case-Tax-inspector-gets-2-year-jail/articleshow/21813559.cms

Fire officer caught taking Rs 50,000 bribe

TNN Aug 8, 2012

NEW DELHI: The CBI on Tuesday caught a fire officer while taking bribe from a hotel owner in Rani Bagh area for giving fire clearance.

CBI sources said Delhi Fire Service officer Rajmal Khokar posted in Rohini had allegedly demanded Rs 1.50 lakh from the owner of one Royal Mirage hotel in the Rani Bagh area. After getting complaint in this regard, CBI officials laid down a trap.

When Khokar was allegedly accepting an installment of Rs 50,000 from the hotel manager, he was caught red handed by the team of CBI officials.

When contacted, owner of the hotel Vijay Pal Singh said Khokar was allegedly demanding the money for fire clearance from August 2 .

"He demanded Rs 5 lakh from me despite my hotel having a clearance valid till 2014 earlier," said Singh.

http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-08-08/delhi/33099806_1_fire-clearance-cbi-officials-fire-officer

Ex-cop took bribe in 2004, gets year’s RI

TNN | Aug 3, 2012

NEW DELHI: A trial court has sentenced a retired assistant commissioner of police to one year rigorous imprisonment for accepting Rs 5,000 as bribe eight years ago from a subordinate, who used to process issuance of firecrackers licences for the festive season. 

Special CBI Judge Pradeep Chaddah awarded one year jail to 65-year-old Hawa Singh, the then ACP in Delhi Police, after convicting him under various sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act. 

While imposing a fine of Rs 50,000 on the convict, the court said, "I have given my considered thought. Convict is 65 years old retired public servant. Court must make an effort to strike balance between interest of society and age and related circumstances of the convict. Keeping in mind his age and background, I sentence convict Hawa Singh to undergo one year rigorous imprisonment." 

Singh was facing trial since 2004 on the allegation that while working as ACP (public grievances cell) in the Delhi Police, he had accepted Rs 5,000 bribe from a sub-inspector Harminder Singh, who was involved in the process for issuance of cracker licences for Diwali. 

"The complainant (Harminder), instead of complying with the illegal and illegitimate extortion, made a complaint to CBI and got the convict trapped while accepting Rs 5,000," the court noted while sentencing the retired ACP. 

Harminder, who was then posted in the office of DCP North District, in his complaint to the CBI said that before issuing the crackers licence for the festive seasons, he used to get signatures of Additional DCP North on the documents. 

The CBI had alleged that the then ACP used to repeatedly ask Harminder to give him money and crackers in return for the signatures. 

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/Ex-cop-took-bribe-in-2004-gets-years-RI/articleshow/15333750.cms

Colonel among six arrested for NDA recruitment scam

TNN | Jun 25, 2012

NEW DELHI: The CBI busted a major recruitment scam in the prestigious National Defence Academy (NDA) and arrested six people, including a serving colonel, for allegedly receiving bribes for jobs and claimed to have recovered Rs 1.76 crore from different locations in connection with the case.

The agency raided 14 places in Pune, Mumbai, Gurgaon and Sonepat, and recovered cash which was allegedly taken by officials and their touts for recruiting subordinate staff like cooks, gardeners, library and laboratory attendants, cadet orderly and lower division clerks, officials said.

Among those arrested are Col Kulbir Singh, staff officer to NDA Commandant Lt Gen Jatinder Singh, NDA employee Ramesh Gaikwad, Bal Kishen Kanojia -- who runs a food stall in Pune, his employee Vishnu Sharma and two alleged touts Manoj Sheetal Kar and Dattatre Sheetal Kar. Col Singh, who belongs to the Guards regiment, was arrested from the Colaba military station.

All the six were produced before a CBI court in Pune which remanded them to custody till July 2.

'Jobs went for Rs 4 lakh bribe'

"The staff officer in conspiracy with the other accused obtained illegal gratification of Rs 3-4 lakh from each candidate to give them appointment for subordinate staff like cooks, gardeners, lab attendants, library attendants and cadet orderly," a CBI spokesperson said.

The accused allegedly took signatures of those who had agreed to pay the bribe on blank sheets and later filled them with correct answers through fraudulent means, he said.

CBI said while Rs 4 lakh was seized from the residence of Col Singh, another Rs 82 lakh was seized from the house of an associate of the Army officer. Rs 50 lakh was recovered from Kanojia and Rs 18 lakh from Gaikwad's residence. Rs 3 lakh and Rs 3.20 lakh were recovered from the houses of Manoj Sheetal Kar and Vishnu Sharma respectively, the CBI official said.

The agency also claimed to have seized a list of candidates' names and interview letters from the residence of Kanojia and a list of those who had paid bribe from Sharma's house. The statements of candidates will be recorded soon, the official said.

NDA had in February invited applications to appoint 40 subordinate staff.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Colonel-among-six-arrested-for-NDA-recruitment-scam/articleshow/14379493.cms

Retired DDA officer jailed for graft

TNN | Jul 26, 2012

NEW DELHI: A retired senior officer of the DDA was sentenced to three years of rigorous imprisonment by a trial court for taking a bribe of Rs 2,000 for expeditious execution of conveyance deed of a flat.

Special CBI judge Dharmesh Sharma sentenced Gurcharan Singh (64), former assistant director of DDA in its MIG (H) section, after convicting him under various provisions of Prevention of Corruption Act.

"The accused Gurcharan demanded and accepted the bribe, while the accused peon J B Joshi accepted the bribe for and on behalf of Gurucharan in pursuance of a criminal conspiracy," the judge said, and imposed a penalty of Rs 75,000 on the convict.

The court also sentenced Joshi to a year in jail, besides imposing a fine of Rs 15,000 on the DDA peon. His sentence was set off against the period he remained in jail during the trial.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/Retired-DDA-officer-jailed-for-graft/articleshow/15154012.cms

Official, peon get 2 years’ jail for Rs 150 bribe

Shibu Thomas, TNN Jun 10, 2012

MUMBAI: Surging inflation in the past 14 years could not save a government officer and his peon from jail for taking bribes, as the Bombay high court threw out their plea that the amount of Rs 150 was trivial and thus they should not be convicted on corruption charges.

"This court has no hesitation to observe that the amount involved, Rs 150, was not a trivial amount as it was demanded and accepted in 1998. In those days, ordinary labour was getting hardly Rs 30 per day as wages," said Justice T V Nalawade, upholding the conviction of Ramrao Kale (48), a sub-registrar, and Shivrao Deshmukh, the peon. The court held that the trial court was right in sentencing the duo to two years in jail.

150 bribe sought for property deal

The accused had refuted the bribe accusation, claiming that the money was donated by complainant Subhas Murthe for the Flag Fund and for buying Indira Vikas Patra. In their defence, they produced a receipt for Rs 50 for the Flag Fund. But the court ruled it was fake.

Murthe, who had gone to register a property sale deed at the office of the sub-registrar in Jalgaon on April 6, 1998, was asked to cough up Rs 150 to get the job done even after paying the registration charges and getting the documents stamped. Murthe told officer Kale and Deshmukh that he did not have the money on him and would return with it the next day.

He immediately approached the anti-corruption bureau, which laid a trap. The duo was literally caught red-handed accepting the bribe after a dye secretly put on the notes that Murthe gave them was found on Deshmukh's hands and shirt pocket. Upholding the trial court ruling, the HC cautioned the government against keeping officers in the same post even after bribe allegations have been levelled against them.

"The circumstances show that the accused misused his position and created the (Flag Fund) record after the date of trap. It is unfortunate that the competent authority does not take necessary steps when a trap becomes successful. In such cases, it is always desirable to immediately suspend the employee or (ensure) charge of work is handed over to some other person for some time," said Justice Nalawade. The court added that once charges of illegal gratification were established, the burden of proving it was not a bribe was on accused.

http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-06-10/india/32155156_1_bribe-peon-trial-court

Sebi DGM, middleman in CBI net on bribery charges

TNN Jun 2, 2012

NEW DELHI: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has arrested a deputy general manager (DGM) of Securities and Exchange Bureau of India (Sebi) and a middleman on bribery charges. Sebi had barred an Ahmedabad-based share trading company from trading last September for alleged market manipulation using Global Depository Receipts (GDR) issues and initiated an enquiry against the firm.

"The DGM, Avarjeet Singh of Sebi, who was conducting investigation had issued show cause notice to the firm of the complainant. The complainant came in contact with the Mumbai-based middleman Ashok Mehta, who assured to get the work done in favour of the complainant, claiming close contact with the Sebi official," CBI said in a statement. It said Mehta had allegedly demanded Rs 25 lakh from the complainant on behalf of the Sebi official.

"The complainant also met the Sebi official who asked him to give the bribe amount to the middleman. The accused asked for Rs 10 lakh as the first installment of bribe. As the complainant did not want to pay the bribe, he lodged complaint with CBI," the statement added. The agency laid a trap and the middleman who came to Ahmedabad for taking delivery of the bribe was caught while accepting illegal gratification of Rs 10 lakh on behalf of Singh.

The Sebi official was also arrested. Searches were conducted at the premises of the middleman and the SEBI official in both Mumbai and New Delhi. The accused were produced in court, the CBI said.

http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-06-02/india/31983686_1_sebi-official-middleman-cbi