E-Paper
2014 graft case: 2 horticulture officials of Chandigarh convicted
The convicts are: Navraj Singh Dhillon, then an assistant landscaping officer-cum-SDO horticulture department and Damar Bahadur alias Raju, a computer operator, of Chandigarh horticulture department
A CBI special court has convicted two officials of the UT horticulture department and acquitted one official in a graft case. The case dates back to July 14, 2014, when the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had arrested the convicts red-handed taking a bribe of ₹5,000 from a labour contractor, at their office in Sector-23.
The convicts are: Navraj Singh Dhillon, then an assistant landscaping officer-cum-SDO horticulture department and Damar Bahadur alias Raju, a computer operator.
Ashwani Kumar, who was posted as the sub-divisional clerk, had also been named in the FIR but was acquitted by the court. The quantum of sentence will be pronounced on January 19.
Complainant Siya Ram, a labour contractor from Hisar, had alleged that the accused had demanded ₹5,200 for clearing his pending bills to the tune of ₹1.75 lakh, pertaining to supply of gardeners at Sukhna Lake and other horticulture works. This amount was later reduced to ₹5,000.
The accused had threatened to not clear his bills if he failed to pay the bribe.
This prompted the complainant to approach the CBI, which then laid a trap.
After the CBI sleuths caught the officials red-handed with the bribe, a case was registered under Section 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code and Section 7 of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
Later during the trial, complainant Siya Ram stated that the accused Ashwani Kumar hadn’t demanded bribe from him and had already done his part of work relating to bills available in the file.
His counsel Vishal Garg Narwana argued that while the CBI had audio recordings, Kumar never demanded bribe in them. Kumar was also not present when the other two were caught.
