E-Paper
Chandigarh: Former CPCC secy, wife charged in 2021 disproportionate assets case
Birendra Chaudhary, who served as deputy conservator of forests and later as CPCC member secretary, was first arrested in July 2017 after he was allegedly caught red-handed, accepting a ₹1 lakh bribe for not revoking a consent issued to a timber businessman, who owned a saw mill.
The special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court has framed charges against former Chandigarh Pollution Control Committee (CPCC) member secretary Birendra Choudhary and his wife Sabita Choudhary in a disproportionate assets (DA) case registered in 2021. Choudhary, a 2000-batch, AGMUT-cadre Indian Forest Service (IFS) officer, is already facing trial in a 2017 corruption case, which had led to the discovery of the disproportionate assets.
Chaudhary, who served as deputy conservator of forests and later as CPCC member secretary, was first arrested in July 2017 after he was allegedly caught red-handed, accepting a ₹1 lakh bribe for not revoking a consent issued to a timber businessman, who owned a saw mill.
Subsequently, searches were conducted at his residence in Sector 27 during which the CBI had recovered ₹2.63 lakh cash, documents for two plots in Bhagomajra village in Mohali and a ₹1.53-lakh bill from Talwar Jewellers. Scrutiny of the documents further revealed that Choudhary had acquired huge assets, in the form of movable and immovable properties in his own name and in the name of his family members, which were disproportionate to his known sources of income. He was accused of abusing his official position during the period April 1, 2014 to July 17, 2017, to acquire these assets.
As per the CBI’s calculations, Choudhary had acquired assets worth ₹19.02 lakh which were over 39% disproportionate to his known sources of income. In view of this, the CBI court framed charges under sections of Prevention of Corruption (PC) Act for criminal misconduct against the officer while his wife has been charged of abetment of the crime.
