Three excise officials get four-year jail term for corruption

The CBI Special Court today sentenced three central excise officials to four years of rigorous imprisonment with a fine of Rs 1 lakh each in a corruption case.

The convicts are Anil Kumar and Ajay Kumar, who worked as Superintendents, and Ravinder Singh Dahiya, who worked as an Inspector, at the Central Excise, Audit Department, Murthal.

The case was registered on February 19, 2017, for criminal conspiracy and under the Prevention of Corruption Act on the complaint of Deepak Jain, proprietor of M/s Precision Components (P) Ltd, Sonepat.

As per allegations, they were demanding a bribe of Rs 10 lakh to adjust a penalty of Rs 25-30 lakh for double billing, evasion of excise duty of scrap, overstock, etc.

On request of the complainant, they reduced the bribe amount to Rs 9 lakh to be paid in two installments of Rs 3 lakh and Rs 6 lakh. A mobile phone was also demanded by Anil Kumar.

Finally, a trap was laid on February 20, 2017, at the factory premises of Jain. All the three accused came in a car, called Jain outside telephonically, and took him along in their car.

“After making a round in the vicinity in their vehicle, they then stopped their car near the factory of Jain, whereupon he gave a call to the CBI officials confirming the delivery of bribe money,” told Senior Prosecutor Harsh Mohan Singh to the court.

The trap team of CBI immediately sprang into action to apprehend the accused. Ravinder Dahiya tried to flee but was caught at a short distance from the spot by CBI officials. The bribe amount was recovered from the back pocket of the driver seat cover of the convicts’ car.

After an investigation, a chargesheet was filed against all three accused on July 3, 2017. During the trial, the complainant turned hostile. Nevertheless, after appreciating the evidence on record and the CBI arguments led by Singh, the CBI court convicted all three for criminal conspiracy and under sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act.