India Today ·
Caught by CBI taking bribe, railway officers threw away cash; get 3-year jail
Two Patratu diesel shed officers were convicted after a CBI trap over a contractor's pending bill. Forensic tests, call records and witness testimony defeated their attempt to throw away the bribe cash.
Two railway officers in Jharkhand were sentenced to three years' rigorous imprisonment and fined after a court convicted them of accepting bribes from a contractor and trying to discard the cash when the CBI caught them during a trap.
Two railway officers posted in Jharkhand’s Ramgarh district, who were caught red-handed by the CBI while accepting a bribe and then tried to distance themselves from the cash by throwing it away, have been sentenced to three years' rigorous imprisonment each and fined after Ranchi court found them guilty.
Assistant Material Manager Kailash Kant Jha and Senior Divisional Mechanical Engineer Rajeshwari Singh, who was posted at the Patratu Diesel Shed, were convicted of demanding bribes from a contractor for clearing his pending bill.
The case dates back to 2018, when contractor Naresh Kumar Singh made repeated visits to the Patratu Diesel Shed of the East Central Railway seeking clearance of a pending bill worth Rs 6.26 lakh. According to the complaint, the officers demanded money in exchange for moving his file forward.
Jha allegedly demanded Rs 17,000, while Singh allegedly demanded Rs 45,000 from the contractor.
Unable to get his bill cleared, the contractor approached the CBI and lodged a complaint. The agency subsequently planned a trap to catch the officers while they were accepting the bribe.
The CBI team later reached the railway office along with independent witnesses as part of the operation. As planned, the contractor handed over the bribe money to the officers.
According to the prosecution, the officers accepted the cash before the CBI team entered the room and disclosed its identity.
On seeing the CBI team, the officers panicked and attempted to distance themselves from the money. Jha threw the bundle of notes behind the table and onto the floor, while Singh pushed the cash lying on her table away and denied having accepted any bribe.
During the trial, the defence argued that the money had been recovered from the floor and therefore could not be treated as a direct seizure from the officers. The officials also claimed that they had been falsely implicated as part of a conspiracy.
The CBI, however, relied on forensic evidence, statements from independent witnesses and other material to establish the alleged transaction.
CBI Senior Public Prosecutor Priyanshu Singh argued that the currency notes used in the trap had been treated with phenolphthalein powder. The hands and shirt pockets of the officers were subsequently washed with sodium carbonate solution, which turned deep pink, according to the prosecution.
A forensic laboratory report from Kolkata was also cited by the CBI to support its case that the officers had handled the tainted currency.
Independent witnesses who were present during the trap also testified before the court. They told the court that they had witnessed the exchange of money and subsequently seen the officers throw or push the cash away after the CBI team entered the room.
The agency further relied on call detail records, the forensic examination report and witness statements during the proceedings.
Based on the evidence presented before it, the special court in Ranchi found Jha and Singh guilty under the Prevention of Corruption Act. The court sentenced both officers to three years’ rigorous imprisonment and imposed fines on each of them.