The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Wednesday filed the chargesheet against Haryana Civil Services (HCS) officer Shilpy Pattar in a graft case on Wednesday.
Pattar, who was repatriated to her home state after the case surfaced, was arrested on August 5 for allegedly taking bribe from a businessman for de-sealing his showroom. She was on deputation in UT as sub-divisional magistrate (SDM, east).
The CBI submitted the chargesheet against the officer under Section 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) besides Sections 7 (public servant taking gratification other than legal remuneration in respect of an official act) and 13 (1) (d) read with 13(2) (criminal misconduct) of the Prevention of Corruption Act before the special CBI court.
The CBI also filed the chargesheet against her two accomplices — husband Dheeraj Dutt, from whom the money was allegedly recovered, and GS Brar, the alleged middleman — for criminal conspiracy.
Pattar had allegedly demanded Rs 5 lakh for de-sealing a showroom in Sector 26. After negotiations, the deal was struck at Rs 2 lakh, of which Rs 50,000 was to be paid on August 5. When complainant Tarsem Kumar Goyal handed over the money, the CBI team raided the house. The money was recovered from Pattar’s husband.
The CBI also seized some property-related documents, cash and jewellery from Pattar’s house, besides Rs 25,000 from the middleman. Former assistant estate officer Birender Choudhary’s name had also cropped up in the bribery case after Pattar’s interrogation. The CBI has already submitted chargesheet against him.
CBI officials also confirmed the involvement of two to three UT administration officials in such cases. Hinting at officials with whom Pattar has closely worked with, sources in the CBI had earlier told HT that it was an entire nexus where these officials would get in touch with lower-rung employees to extract bribe.
Chargesheet filed just in time
The HCS officer had filed a bail plea on September 6, which was dismissed by the court. The defence counsel, Terminder Singh, moved another application on Wednesday, stating that the accused should be granted bail by default since it had already been 60 days since her arrest and the chargesheet hadn’t been filed. However, the court informed the counsel that the chargesheet had been filed, after which he withdrew the application.