Former EPFO official gets 4-year jail for graft in Chandigarh

CBI had arrested Manmohan Gilhotra in April 2015 for accepting ₹15,000 as bribe from a private firm based in Baltana, Zirakpur

Stating that the conduct of the convict was “highly deplorable”, the special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court, Chandigarh, on Monday awarded four-year imprisonment to a former enforcement officer of the Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO), Sector 17, who was held guilty in a bribery case. A fine of ₹50,000 was also imposed on him.

A fine of ₹50,000 was also imposed on him. (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

The CBI had arrested Manmohan Gilhotra in April 2015 for accepting ₹15,000 as bribe from a private firm based in Baltana, Zirakpur. According to the chargesheet, Gilhotra demanded the money from the firm’s chief administrative officer after threatening to conduct raids at his office.

Last week, court held him guilty under Sections 7 and 13 (1)(d), pertaining to public servant taking gratification and criminal misconduct, of the Prevention of Corruption Act. The quantum of sentence was pronounced on Monday.

In court, Gilhotra, 45, pleaded that he is a first offender and has two school-going daughters and a family to look after. Pleading for leniency, he said that on account of the conviction, his services would be terminated by the government and would not get any service benefits. Public prosecutor KP Singh argued that in order to check rampant corruption in public life, it is the need of the hour to give an exemplary punishment to a public servant found indulging in corrupt practices.

Stating that “corruption is worse than prostitution”, Sushil Kumar Garg, special judge, CBI, ruled: “The latter might endanger morals of an individual, the former invariably endangers morals of the entire country... There are still those of us who work to overcome corruption and believe it to be possible. The world will not be destroyed by those who do evil, but by those who watch them without doing anything.”

The judge observed that “the conduct of accused-convict is highly deplorable” and “any softness in this regard could produce an undesirable result, namely encouragement to adoption of corrupt means by public servants which has indeed to be checked, and not allowed to be increased”.