Chandigarh: Estate Office employee walks free in bribery case

A local court has acquitted an employee of the UT Estate Office in a corruption case.

The employee, Krishan Kumar Chopra, was booked under Sections 7, 13(1)(b) read with 13(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act at the Vigilance police station on September 5, 2019, following a complaint by Ravinder Kumar, a resident of Sector 37-D.

The complainant had alleged that he had purchased a house in Sector 38-C for his cousin Mangat Ram. The house was purchased on power of attorney. The original allottee of the house was Hans Raj. The house was allotted on a leasehold basis at a monthly installment of Rs 208.

Kumar approached the area Inspector for updating the installment of the house. However, the area inspector demanded Rs 50,000 for updating of installment status. The house was going to be cancelled in case the lease installment was not updated.

After meeting the inspector, he was going out of the Estate Office when a person came from behind and introduced himself as Chopra, also an inspector in the department. He allegedly told that the complainant that he would do his work. However, he demanded Rs 70,000 as bribe for updating the installment of the house. Chopra allegedly asked for some money in advance. The complainant prepared a video of the meeting on his mobile phone and approached the Vigilance Department.

An FIR was registered and a trap was laid. Chopra was arrested while accepting a bribe of Rs 20,000.

AS Sukhija, the counsel for the accused, argued that Chopra was falsely implicated in the case. Sukhija argued that the complainant had not supported the prosecution’s case. However, the public prosecutor argued that the prosecution had proved the case beyond a shadow of doubt.

After hearing of the arguments, the court acquitted the accused.