Gurugram: Executive engg, operator jailed for 4 yrs in bribery case

Two Haryana irrigation department employees were sentenced to four years in prison for accepting bribes to register a contractor's license.

A city court on Tuesday sentenced two employees of the Haryana irrigation and water resources department to four years of rigorous imprisonment after they were found guilty of accepting bribe from a contractor for registration of his license in 2022, state vigilance and anti-corruption bureau officials said on Thursday.

The court of additional sessions judge Sunil Chauhan also imposed a fine of ₹5000 on each convict. (Shutterstock)

The convicts were Naveen Kumar Yadav, 36, and Chander Shekhar, 41, who worked as an executive engineer and computer operator for the department.

The court of additional sessions judge Sunil Chauhan also imposed a fine of ₹5000 on each convict. The court observed that the offences established against the convicts are serious in nature. “They misused their official positions while processing the complainant’s contractor license file by demanding and accepting illegal gratification,” the order read.

Defense counsels Prashant Yadav and SS Chauhan asked for leniency, citing that the convicts have no previous criminal antecedents, have endured a considerable trial period, have not misused their bail liberty throughout the proceedings, and have family responsibilities, including children, wives and aged parents to support.

Public prosecutor Sumitra submitted that the proven offences were serious in nature and corruption by a public servant undermines the rule of law and erodes public confidence in the administration; thus, such offences should be dealt with firmly.

ACB officials said Yadav was posted as the executive engineer in the irrigation and water resources department office in Sector 16 while Shekhar was a contractual employee hired through Haryana Kaushal Rozgar Nigam (HKRN) under him.

“A contractor filed a complaint that the engineer was demanding a bribe for registering his license to work under the Haryana Engineering Works Portal. His application was kept pending for processing and Yadav, via the operator, was asking ₹5000 from the contractor to process his file,” he said.

The contractor filed a complaint and after verification, his bribery allegations were established. Shekhar was arrested while accepting ₹5000 as bribe from the contractor. An FIR against him and Yadav was registered under Section 7 of the PC Act at the ACB police station in Gurugram on December 16, 2022.

According to the order, Shekhar, the operator, was convicted under Section 7 (public servant obtaining, accepting or attempting to obtain bribes as a motive or reward to perform public duty dishonestly) and Yadav, the engineer, was convicted under sections 13(1)(b) (criminal misconduct by a public servant) read with 13(2) (punishment for criminal misconduct) of the Prevention of Corruption Act.