Sub-Inspector, jeweller get 2-year jail for graft

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, April 26 

UT Sub-Inspector (SI) Sanjiv Kumar, a President’s Medal recipient, and jeweller Subhash Kataria were on Thursday sentenced to two-year rigorous imprisonment by the CBI court in a 10-year-old graft case. They have also been asked to pay a fine of Rs 25,000 each. 

The court convicted the SI under Section 7, read with Section 13(2) (1) of the Prevention of Corruption Act and Section 120 B of the IPC, whereas the jeweller was held guilty under Section 8 of the Prevention of Corruption Act and Section 120 B of the IPC. 

The third accused in the case, Sub-Inspector Ramesh Chand, was acquitted by the court for want of evidence. 

On November 7, 2008, the CBI had arrested Sanjiv, then in-charge of the Neelam police post in Sector 17, along with Subhash of Delhi Jewellers, Sector 17, on allegations of demanding a bribe of Rs 50,000. They were arrested on a complaint of Arvind Kumar Pandey, a bookstore owner, who had alleged that Subhash and Sanjiv had demanded Rs 50,000 from him as “kickbacks” for evicting his “tenant” from his shop in the bridge market. The CBI had first arrested Subhash with the amount and then went to the police post to nab Sanjiv, on whose behalf Subhash accepted the bribe. 

The charges in the case were framed in 2013, two years after the chargesheet was submitted.  The convicts were granted bail after furnishing surety bonds of Rs 1 lakh each.

Timeline

• Nov 7, 2008: CBI arrests SI and jeweller for taking a bribe 
• Nov 22: SI released on bail 
• Dec 5: Jeweller released on bail 
• 2012: CBI files chargesheet 
• June 6, 2013: Charges framed 
• April 20, 2018: SI and the jeweller held guilty

Complainant not happy, to move HC

Unhappy with the two-year sentence awarded to the SI and the jeweller, the complainant in the case, Arvind Kumar Pandey, said he would approach the High Court to demand stricter punishment against the accused.