Chandigarh govt employee gets four-year RI in graft case, fined Rs 20,000

The CBI court here has sentenced Shyam Singh Chauhan, an employee at the office of the Deputy Chief Controller of Explosives in Manimajra, to undergo four years of rigorous imprisonment in a nine-year-old corruption case. The court has also imposed a fine of Rs 20,000 on the convict.

The CBI had registered the case against Chauhan in 2017 based on a complaint filed by Devendra Pal Singh, a resident of Mandi, Himachal Pradesh. He alleged that Chauhan had demanded a bribe in exchange for issuing a licence.

In his complaint, Devendra stated that he had applied at the office of the Deputy Chief Controller of Explosives to work as a blaster for a firm based in Mandi. He was informed there that given his experience as a blaster, no interview would be required and the licence would be sent directly to his home.

When the licence did not arrive, Devendra contacted the office. He alleged that senior assistant Chauhan demanded a bribe of Rs 8,000 to issue the licence. As he did not want to pay the bribe, Devendra reported the matter to the CBI. On July 11, 2017, the CBI laid a trap and arrested Chauhan while accepting bribe near the Manimajra office.

A case was registered against him under Sections 7 and 13 of the Prevention of Corruption Act. After investigation, the CBI filed the chargesheet against the accused.

Narender Singh, public prosecutor of the CBI, argued that the prosecution had proved the charges. After hearing the arguments, the CBI court convicted the accused under Sections 7 and 13 of the Prevention of Corruption Act and sentenced him to undergo four years of rigorous imprisonment.