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Ex-Jharkhand minister Tirkey convicted in DA case, set to lose seat in assembly
A special CBI court here on Monday held Jharkhand’s former education minister and senior Congress MLA Bandhu Tirkey guilty in a disproportionate assets case, paving way for his disqualification as a member of Jharkhand assembly
A special CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation) court here on Monday held Jharkhand’s former education minister and senior Congress MLA Bandhu Tirkey guilty in a disproportionate assets case, paving way for his disqualification as a member of Jharkhand assembly.
The court of PK Sharma sentenced the three-term legislator to three years in jail and a fine of ₹3 lakh, Tirkey’s counsel Sambhu Agrawal said.
“As his sentence is three years, he has been granted bail. We will file an appeal against the conviction in higher court,” he said.
Coming out of the court, Tirkey, who is currently MLA from Mandar and also working president of the state Congress unit, refused to speak to media.
The matter pertains to the DA case filed against him by the CBI in 2010 for having amassed assets disproportionate to his known sources of income during his first stint as MLA between 2005 and 2009 when he also served as state’s education minister in the Madhu Koda cabinet.
CBI, in May 2013, had filed charge sheet against Tirkey but urged the court to close the case as a paltry amount of disproportionate assets was unearthed against him. According to CBI’s findings, Tirkey owned disproportionate assets worth ₹6.28 lakh only, which was just 30% above his actual income.
However, the court had rejected CBI’s view and commenced the trial.
Tirkey was arrested on December 12, 2018, in this case and remained in jail for couple of months before he was released on bail.
Tirkey has won thrice from Mandar assembly constituency in Ranchi district, twice as Independent, in 2005, 2009 and on the ticket of Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (P) in 2019. However, within months after split in JVM(P) following merger of the party by its president Babulal Marandi with the BJP, Tirkey joined the Congress along with the third party legislator Pradeep Yadav.
All three legislators — Marandi, Yadav and Tirkey — are also facing proceedings in the Jharkhand assembly Speaker’s court under the anti-defection law.
A prominent leader from the scheduled tribes community, often vocal about tribal rights, Tirkey was given a major role in the Congress after the party made him working president of its Jharkhand unit.
The verdict is a major blow for Tirkey as he is now set to lose his membership of the assembly in the light of a 2013 Supreme Court’s ruling, which said convicted MPs and MLAs sentenced to imprisonment for not less than two years would be treated as disqualified from the membership of either house of the Parliament or state assembly with immediate effect.
