E-Paper
Sonepat customs inspector gets 1-year jail in graft case
The court also imposed a fine of ₹10,000 on the convict, identified as Prashant Kumar Rohela, customs inspector deployed at ICD Depot, Panchi, Gujran, Gannaur, Sonepat, who was convicted under Sections 7 and 13 (2) read with Section 13 (1)(D) of the Prevention of Corruption Act on September 22.
Corruption by public servants not only upsets the balance of society, but also works against the aspirations of the people of India, ruled Panchkula special CBI judge Rajeev Goyal while awarding a year’s jail term to a customs inspector in a seven-year-old graft case.
The court also imposed a fine of ₹10,000 on the convict, identified as Prashant Kumar Rohela, customs inspector deployed at ICD Depot, Panchi, Gujran, Gannaur, Sonepat, who was convicted under Sections 7 and 13 (2) read with Section 13 (1)(D) of the Prevention of Corruption Act on September 22.
Rohela was arrested by CBI on October 17, 2016, while accepting the bribe.
“Corruption is a menace and is eating into the vitals of our society. The tentacles of corruption have spread far and wide and moral values among public servants have touched nadir. It is through the agency of public servants that policies of the legislature are being implemented to achieve the goals laid down by our founding fathers,” said the court in its detailed judgment made available now.
Rohela had sought leniency from the court, citing that he is the sole bread winner of his family comprising, aged parents, wife and a three-year-old son, who are totally dependent upon him. He submitted that he enjoys an unblemished service record.
Rohela had claimed false implication, submitting that clerk Sandeep Kumar had demanded ₹1,500 for his own purpose. He had told the court that Jain had tried to implicate him since he refused to process refund of duty drawback without relevant papers.
Caught on charges of seeking ₹1,500 bribe
The CBI in October 2016 had registered a case on the complaint of Saurav Jain, a consultant authorised by the firm Sri Bhawani Udhyog Panipat to deal in all matters relating to refund/deposit of customs duty at depot where the convict was posted.
On August 26, 2016, he had submitted an application with the clerk, Sandeep, for refund of duty drawback on an amount of ₹51,230 on the directions of Rohela who was demanding bribe to get the job done.
Sandeep informed Jain that Rohela had directed him to collect 3-3.5% as bribe on the duty drawback amount from him. On October 12, 2016, Jain contacted the clerk on his mobile phone and inquired about the status of pending duty drawback file. The clerk told him that he had directed by Rohela that unless the bribe amount is paid, the duty drawback file is not cleared. CBI had arrested Sandeep and Rohela on October 17, 2016, while accepting bribe.
Clerk caught taking bribe had turned approver
Sandeep, the clerk who was caught taking bribe, allegedly on behalf of Rohela had later turned approver for the CBI. As per the CBI, Sandeep was neither employee of Cross Link Shipping Pvt. Ltd., ICD Depot nor the customs department. As per CBI, Sandeep was working with Rohela in private capacity and used to collect bribe money from the customers on the latter’s behalf. The CBI had said that Sandeep had been working in the office since 2014-15.
