E-Paper
WhatsApp chats, voice recordings establishes demand acceptance of bribe money: ACB
The Haryana anti-corruption bureau claims to have evidence of an IAS officer accepting bribes in a corruption case after analyzing WhatsApp calls and messages. The officer was granted bail on November 28.
The Haryana anti-corruption bureau (ACB) which is investigating a corruption case against Haryana IAS officer, Jaibir Singh Arya, claims to have established the nexus of demand and acceptance of bribe money by the officer in connivance with other accused after doing an analysis of the WhatsApp calls and chat messages on his mobile device.
Arya, who remained in jail for over a month after being arrested by the ACB this October, was granted bail by a Panchkula court on November 28. The 2009 batch IAS officer, who was serving as managing director of Haryana State Warehousing Corporation (HSWC), was booked on October 11 along with two officials, Sandeep Ghanghas of HSWC and Rajesh Bansal of CONFED, and a private individual, Manish Sharma, under sections 7 and 7-A of the Prevention of Corruption (PC) Act; and sections 384 and 120-B of the Indian Penal Code.
The case registered by the ACB
As per the FIR, the complainant Rajesh Kumar, of Kurukshetra, told the ACB that HSWC Panipat district manager, Sandeep Ganghas, had approached him with an offer to pay the HSWC MD, Arya, ₹3 lakh as illegal gratification to get his wife, Rinku Hooda, posted as Kurukshetra district manager. Her posting orders for Kurukshetra were issued by Arya on October 5 and she joined on October 6, the FIR said. Thereafter, Ghanghas told the complainant to pay the bribe money being sought by IAS officer through CONFED official, Rajesh Bansal (absconding), who allegedly acted as Arya’s middleman, the FIR said. It further said that Ghanghas told him that Bansal has asked that the bribe money be delivered to one Manish Sharma, who has a shop in Panchkula industrial area. The FIR does not indicate direct acceptance of illegal gratification by the IAS officer from Hooda’s husband for posting her as a district manager at Kurukshetra.
The evidence ACB is counting on
During the hearing of Arya’s application for grant of regular bail, the government’s counsel told the court that, during investigations, it was found that when Sandeep Ghanghas contacted Arya for Rinku Hooda’s transfer, he asked him to contact CONFED official Rajesh Bansal.
The counsel told the court that after issuing the posting orders of Rinku Hooda, Arya on October 5 sent a copy to Bansal who had no official business in this matter. This has been established from the IAS officer’s mobile phone, the counsel told the court.
“Rajesh Bansal, in turn, forwarded the same (posting orders) to Sandeep Ghanghas on the same day. This has been established from the mobile phone of Sandeep Ghanghas as well as his statement recorded before a judicial magistrate under Section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPc),’’ the court order reads.
The ACB, the government counsel told the court, found that when Rinku Hooda joined duty after completion of her child care leave on October 5, Sandeep Ghanghas directly shared her joining report with Arya on his phone through a WhatsApp message.
The counsel said that analysis of mobile device of Manish Sharma has confirmed that Rajesh Bansal had communicated Sharma’s number and location of his shop where the bribe money was delivered.
Complainant recorded conversations
The court was told that complainant Rajesh Kumar had furnished an audio recording device containing conversation between him, the HSWC Panipat district manager, Sandeep Ghanghas and Rajesh Bansal of CONFED , and the voice recordings clearly established the nexus of demand and acceptance of bribe money.
“The statements of Sandeep Ghanghas and complainant Rajesh Kumar recorded before a judicial magistrate have clearly established the chain of facts of commission of offence of demand and acceptance of bribe money of ₹3 lakh by Arya through middlemen -Manish Sharma and Rajesh Bansal,” the court was told.
The court order said that the audio recordings also showed Bansal bargaining the bribe money and telling the complainant Rajesh Kumar and Sandeep Ghanghas that he knew Arya since their posting together at Panchkula. Bansal even disclosed earlier incidents of taking bribe by other officers of the department, the court was told.
Arya not caught red-handed
The court of additional sessions judge, Praveen Kumar Lal, while granting bail to Arya, said that the petitioner-accused (Arya) was not caught red-handed while accepting the bribe. The court also said that at the time of deciding an application for bail, the court is not supposed to give any kind of observation in respect of merits of the case.
The government counsel denied any violation of Section 17-A of the Prevention of Corruption (PC) Act which makes it mandatory for the investigating agency to take prior approval of the state government before registration of a PC Act FIR against a public servant.
The counsel told the court that Arya has been rightly arrested as in such offences of demand/acceptance of bribe, the requirement of previous approval as per PC Act is not attracted because Section 17-A of PC Act dealing with a trap case is specifically applicable in the said case.
