E-Paper
ASI caught taking ₹45,000 bribe from Chandigarh bizman gets four-year jail
ASI had demanded the bribe from a Chandigarh-based immigrant consultant to clear his firm’s name in a fraud case lodged in Jalandhar
Comparing corruption to a contagious disease eating into the vitals of Indian democracy, a special CBI court has awarded four-year jail to a Punjab Police personnel for accepting ₹45,000 bribe from a Chandigarh-based immigration consultant in 2013.
The accused, Bhupinder Singh, an assistant sub-inspector (ASI) with the Jalandhar police, was caught red-handed by CBI while accepting the bribe on January 29, 2013.
According to the complainant, Amit Kakkar, director of Healthyway Immigration Consultant Pvt Ltd, Chandigarh, the ASI called one of his employees regarding a study visa case handled by his firm.
The ASI claimed that the visa was issued against a false graduation certificate and an FIR in this regard had already been lodged at a police station in Jalandhar.
The cop then visited the firm’s office and demanded a bribe of ₹50,000 for clearing the firm’s name. A deal was settled at ₹45,000, following which Kakkar approached CBI that arrested the ASI red-handed.
Seeking stringent punishment, the public prosecutor for CBI, PK Dogra, argued that the convict being a police official did not deserve any leniency. However, the ASI pleaded leniency, stating that he had been operated upon twice, and that his elderly father and wife were completely dependent on him.
After hearing the arguments, the court of special CBI judge Jagjit Singh said the convict was a senior police official and fully aware about his actions: “In his daily routine, he was dealing with persons who break the law and in fact, he may have also challaned several such persons. Despite this, he has indulged in an act, which is a blot on the police force. He does not deserve leniency.”
The court observed that corruption in a civilised society was a disease like cancer, which, if not detected in time, was sure to malign the polity of our country, leading to disastrous consequences.
“Uncontrolled corruption...has only progressively gotten worse in recent years. So much so that many of us think that it is unavoidable. Many see it as normal and not immoral. That is disturbing,” the court stated, adding that the corrupt had turned and twisted the system to suit them and many had prospered.
“To curb the menace of corruption, which is a social evil, the punishment should be such that it acts as a deterrent to other persons,” the court held, while sending the ASI to jail for four years under the Prevention of Corruption Act.
