Jaya Jaitly, 2 others convicted in 2001 corruption charge

The case was registered on the basis of a sting, ‘Operation West End,’ conducted by news portal tehelka.com in 2000, purportedly exposing alleged corruption in defence deals.

A Delhi court convicted Jaya Jaitly, former president of Samata Party, and two others in an alleged 2001 corruption case relating to a defence deal. Central Bureau of Investigation judge Virendra Bhat convicted Jaitly, her then party colleague Gopal Pacherwal and retired Major General SP Murgai. The case was registered on the basis of a sting, ‘Operation West End,’ conducted by news portal tehelka.com in 2000, purportedly exposing alleged corruption in defence deals. The CBI submitted a charge sheet against Jaitly and others in 2006.

Former Samata Party President Jaya Jaitly. (Sonu Mehta/HT PHOTO)

According to the prosecution, Jaitly entered into a criminal conspiracy with Murgai, Pacherwal and Surendra Kumar Surekha in 2001. The judge convicted the three --- Jaitly, Murgai and Pacherwal, for criminal conspiracy along with relevant sections of Prevention of Corruption Act (PC Act).