Graft: 4-year RI for Chandigarh cop

Ramkrishan Upadhyay

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, October 1

Special Judge, CBI Court, Jagjit Singh has awarded four-year rigorous imprisonment (RI) to a constable of the Chandigarh Police, Balraj Singh, after convicting him of the offences punishable under section 7 and 13 (2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act in a seven-year-old bribery case.

The court awarded him four-year RI under Section 13(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act 1988 and three-year RI under Section 7 of the Prevention of Corruption Act 1988. Both sentences will run concurrently. The court also imposed a fine of Rs10, 000 each under the two sections on the convict.

The CBI had booked Balraj, who was deputed as naib court at the District Courts, Sector 43, Chandigarh, on the charge of demanding and accepting bribe from an accused.

While the accused prayed for leniency during the hearing on the quantum of sentence, PK Dogra, senior public prosecutor of the CBI, pleaded for an exemplary punishment to the convict in view of the fact that the accused was a policeman. Dogra said since the act was done by a policeman, he should be given a maximum punishment under the law.

The constable had demanded the bribe in lieu of helping the complainant in a bail case. The CBI had registered a case against the accused on a complaint of a resident of Milk Colony, Dhanas, Rohani, alias Romy. Romi had complained to the investigating agency on April 4, 2014, that Balraj was demanding Rs5,000 as bribe to help him get bail in a case of voluntarily causing hurt registered at the Sector 11 police station.

The CBI had arrested the constable while he was taking the bribe amount of Rs3,000 outside the courtroom.