India News | Mizoram Special Court Sentences PWD Junior Engineer to Jail for 4 Years on Graft Charges
Get latest articles and stories on India at LatestLY. The special court (prevention of corruption Act) on Tuesday sentenced a junior engineer (JE) of Mizoram public works department to four years imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 2 lakh in a graft case.
Aizawl, Sep 5 (PTI) The special court (prevention of corruption Act) on Tuesday sentenced a junior engineer (JE) of Mizoram public works department to four years imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 2 lakh in a graft case.
Special judge HTC Lalrinchhana had convicted C Lalfakawma under Section 409 of Indian Penal Code (IPC) and under Section 13 (2) read with 13(1)(a) of (Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 on Monday.
The special court sentenced Lalfakawma under Section 409 of IPC to two years in jail with a fine of Rs 1 lakh.
It also sentenced the convict under Section 13 (2) read with 13 (1) (a) of PC Act, 1988 to four years of imprisonment with a fine of Rs 1 lakh.
"Since he has no previous criminal records, both the sentences except the fines shall run concurrently. Period of detention of the offender in judicial custody, which he had already undergone (if any), shall be set off as enjoined by Section 428 of CrPC," the judgment said.
The convicted person was remanded to judicial custody and sent to the Aizawl Central Jail after pronouncement of the quantum of punishment.
Criminal cases against Lalfakawma was initiated on May 20, 2020 when a deputy secretary of PWD submitted a complaint to Mizoram Lokayukta to investigate allegations that he had taken money from contractors while he was posted at Khawzawl subdivision.
As instructed by the Lokayukta, the state Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) registered criminal cases and began investigations into allegations that the accused took Rs 17 lakh from a contractor constructing a PMGSY road between Rabung and Aiduzawl and Rs 3 lakh from a sub-contractor in 2018.
Though the contractor and sub-contractor were declared as hostile prosecution witnesses by the prosecutors, the contractor admitted that he deposited Rs 17 lakh in the bank account of the accused as a loan.
The sub-contractor said he borrowed Rs 8 lakh from the JE and paid back Rs 11 lakh as Lalfakawma required another loan of Rs 3 lakh.
(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)