Why Did a Kerala CBI Court Sentence a Railway Accountant to Two Years in Jail for Bribery?
Synopsis
Key Takeaways
- Corruption in public offices is a serious issue.
- CBI plays a crucial role in investigating bribery cases.
- Accountability is essential for regaining public trust.
- Legal consequences for accepting bribes are severe.
- Public officials must maintain ethical standards.
Kurnool, Dec 8 (NationPress) A Special CBI Court in Kerala has imposed a two-year prison sentence on a South Central Railway official for accepting a bribe of Rs 15,000 to facilitate the release of a contractor’s outstanding bill totaling Rs 30 lakh, as confirmed by an official source on Monday.
The Special CBI Court in Kurnool found Challa Sreenivasulu, an Accounts Assistant in the Senior Divisional Finance Manager's office at the South Central Railway's Guntakal Division in Andhra Pradesh, guilty and sentenced him to two years of rigorous imprisonment (RI) along with a fine of Rs 20,000 for his involvement in the bribery case.
According to the official statement, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) initiated the case promptly on November 2, 2017.
It was alleged that Sreenivasulu solicited a bribe from the complainant to process the bill for contract work performed between July 2017 and September 7, amounting to Rs 30 lakh, as well as for previously approved bills.
The CBI set up a trap and apprehended the accused in the act of demanding and receiving Rs 15,000 from the complainant.
Following the investigation, the CBI submitted a chargesheet against him on March 29, 2018.
Additionally, last week, the CBI succeeded in securing two-year prison sentences for two postal officials involved in a Rs 27 lakh fraud from 2017.
A Special CBI Court in Hyderabad sentenced two postal department employees who misappropriated Rs 27.27 lakh during the demonetization period to two years of RI alongside a fine of Rs 65,000 each, according to an official announcement on Tuesday.
The court found Adapa Srinivas, the postal assistant treasurer, and U. Rajyalakshmi, a fellow postal assistant at the Humayun Nagar Sub-Post Office in Hyderabad, guilty of breaching trust and cheating, resulting in the two-year RI sentence and fines of Rs 65,000 each.
The CBI registered this case on August 31, 2017, following a formal complaint lodged by the Senior Superintendent of Post Offices in the Hyderabad City Division.
It was alleged that Srinivas and Lakshmi engaged in a criminal conspiracy between November 10, 2016, and November 24, 2016, during the demonetization of old currency notes, fraudulently exchanging withdrawn old series notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 with new notes worth Rs 27,27,397 without the necessary Annexure-II forms and falsifying records to conceal their misappropriation.