19 yrs after taking Rs 110 in bribe, clerk get jail

A RS-110 bribe came back to haunt a clerk in the office of the Sub-divisional Officer (SDO) in Nawada 19 years after he was caught taking it, reports Ramashankar.

A RS-110 bribe came back to haunt a clerk in the office of the Sub-divisional Officer (SDO) in Nawada 19 years after he was caught taking it.

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On Wednesday, the Special Vigilance Court in Patna convicted Avadhesh Kumar Sinha and awarded him two-years’ rigorous imprisonment.

On March 14, 1989, Singh was caught red-handed accepting a bribe from Vivekanand Singh by State Vigilance Bureau sleuths.

Singh had lodged a complaint with the bureau’s office in Patna that the clerk was demanding a bribe to sanction a loan for a government well in the name of his father.

Singh was produced before the special vigilance court after interrogation and subsequently released on bail. After 19 years, the trial court found him guilty under the Prevention of Corruption Act.

Special Vigilance Judge S.K. Panwar sentenced him to one year’s rigorous imprisonment each under sections 7 and 13 1 (D) of the Act and imposed a fine of Rs 1000. Both sentences would run concurrently.

The state government recently set up a special court for speedy trials of ‘trap’ cases against public servants. The court will first take up cases lodged since 2006.

So far, over 225 state government employees have been booked on charges of accepting illegal gratification. The bureau also detected unaccounted wealth of the corrupt officials worth over Rs 15 crore. The special court had already served notices on the accused of ‘trap’ cases, said a bureau official.