New Delhi, Nov 28: The CBI Court in Vijayawada on Friday sentenced a former Railway official to one year of imprisonment in a nearly two-decade-old bribery case. The court convicted Matta Dharma Rao, who was serving as Assistant Divisional Engineer with South Central Railway in Bhimavaram, West Godavari district, for demanding and accepting illegal gratification from a contractor.
According to the CBI, the case was registered on November 29, 2006, following a complaint by a railway contractor. Investigators found that Dharma Rao had abused his official position and sought a digital camera along with a charger and batteries worth around Rs 11,200 as a bribe.
The illegal gratification was allegedly taken as a reward for clearing a bill of Rs 1.87 lakh and as an inducement to pass an additional pending bill of Rs 77,000. After completing its probe, the CBI filed a chargesheet against Rao on June 11, 2007.
Following a prolonged trial, the court found him guilty and awarded him one year of imprisonment along with a fine of Rs 1,500. Notably, the CBI Court Ghaziabad on Thursday convicted and sentenced one officer of Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) to four years imprisonment with a fine of Rs 50,000 and one private person to three years imprisonment with a fine of Rs 10,000 in a bribery case.
The names of the accused are Binod Kumar, Assistant, Khadi and Village Industries Commission, Divisional Office, Meerut and Surendra Khurana alias Sunny Khurana, (Private Person). According to the CBI, it registered the instant case on September 15, 2017, against the accused Binod Kumar and Surendra Khanna on the allegation of demanding and accepting illegal gratification.
While posted as an Assistant and District Coordinator at the Khadi and Village Industry Commission (2016-2017), accused Binod Kumar and private person Surendra Khurana conspired to take a Rs. 1,25,000 bribe to process an invalid loan application for a Cement Tiles Manufacturing Unit.
IANS
