Corruption by public servants a huge problem: Special CBI court

Corruption by public servants has become a gigantic problem and now no facet of public life has been left unaffected by the stink of corruption, a special CBI court observed while convicting a clerk working with Poddar Mills, a unit of National Textiles Corporation.

Corruption by public servants has become a gigantic problem and now no facet of public life has been left unaffected by the stink of corruption, a special CBI court observed while convicting a clerk working with Poddar Mills, a unit of National Textiles Corporation.

The special CBI court convicted a clerk working with Poddar Mills, a unit of National Textiles Corporation, for corruption. (For representation)

Additional sessions judge AS Sayyad sentenced the clerk, Milind Birje, to four years of imprisonment for accepting ₹1,500 as bribe for clearing pension of a senior citizen. The special court also imposed fine of ₹10,000 on the clerk.

The court observed that “corruption by public servants has become a gigantic problem. It has spread everywhere. No facet of public life has been left unaffected by the stink of corruption. It has deep and pervasive impact on the functioning of the entire country. Large scale corruption retards the nation building activity and everyone suffers due to it.”

The court said the minimum sentence of four years imprisonment, as provided under section 13 (2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, would be a just and proper sentence for the accused in view the nature and gravity of offence.

Special prosecutor Sandeep Singh said a trap was laid on January 28, 2016 and Birje was arrested while accepting bribe of ₹1,500. Initially, the demand was for ₹2,000 to expedite and clear the pension file of the complainant, which was reduced after bargaining.

The accused had not disputed that he was a public servant for being an employee of a unit of the National Textiles Corporation. Sanction was accordingly taken to prosecute him from competent authority. The evidence of prosecution witness clearly established the demand, acceptance and the recovery at the instance of the accused, said the prosecutor. There is overwhelming evidence on record which establishes the guilt of the accused beyond reasonable doubt, he added.

The accused was charged under sections 7 (public servant taking gratification other than legal remuneration in respect of an official act) and 13(1) (public servant is said to commit the offence of criminal misconduct) of the Prevention of Corruption Act.

The accused through his counsel VN Shingnapurkar argued that the pre-trap and post-trap process was defective, and there was no witness to prove that the accused had actually demanded the money. He argued that the complaint was filed out of personal vendetta. He said that the first information report in the case was filed on January 27 whereas the demand was made on January 21, and thus there was inordinate delay in registering the case. The accused had argued that there was no evidence to show that the demand was made.

The special court, however, noted that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had recorded the conversation with the help of a DVR in a SD card that was a part of the case records and sentenced him to prison.