Graft: 10 yrs on, cop among 2 held guilty

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Chandigarh, June 4

A sub-inspector of the Chandigarh Police is among two persons held guilty in a 10-year-old graft case. The CBI court will pronounce the quantum of sentence on June 6.

Jagjit Singh, Special Judge, CBI Court, convicted Sub-Inspector Naveen Sharma and Som Nath Aneja, who took the bribe on the cop’s behalf. The court has also issued an arrest warrant against Aneja, who failed to appear before the court today.

During the arguments in the case, PK Dogra, special public prosecutor, said the accused used a word pyaaj (onion) for the bribe money.

As per the prosecution, the CBI had caught Aneja red-handed while accepting Rs 5 lakh as bribe on behalf of Naveen Sharma, a sub-inspector posted with the Economic Offence Wing, on September 5, 2012, from a person Sukhbir Singh Shergill against whom an FIR was registered at the Sector 3 police station. The cop was probing the case against Shergill.

It was alleged that Sharma demanded Rs 10 lakh from Shergill for helping him in the bail matter of his wife and settling the case.

In a complaint to the CBI on September 4, 2012, Shergill stated that the case was registered on the complaint of a person on the basis of unverified and false documents. He met SI Naveen Sharma, who was the investigating officer, in connection with the case. The cop gave him a reference of Aneja for any help in the case. Later, he met Aneja, who informed him that he would discuss the matter with the cop. Thereafter, Aneja told the complainant that he had spoken to the SI for some help in the bail matter of his wife. Aneja told him that he had to pay a handsome amount as a bribe.

Acting on the complaint, the CBI laid a trap and caught Aneja accepting a bribe of Rs 5 lakh on September 5, 2012, near Bengali Sweets, Mani Majra. When the CBI was about to arrest SI Naveen Sharma, he realised that he had been trapped an fled in a vehicle.

Later, Naveen Sharma was arrested on September 6, 2012, with the help of the Panchkula police. The CBI filed the chargesheet against the accused in 2013 and charges were framed against them under Sections 120-B of the IPC read with Sections 7, 13(1) (d) (b) read with 13 (2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988.