A trial court in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, sentenced an IRS (Indian Revenue Services) officer from the 1989 batch to six years in prison for accepting a bribe of Rs 15,000 23 years ago. The officer was also given a 1.5 lakh rupee fine by the court.
Arvind Mishra was the deputy commissioner of the Income Tax department in Lucknow at the time, and on November 29, 1999, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) filed a case against him after a man claimed Mishra demanded a bribe of Rs 20,000 in exchange for issuing a ‘no dues certificate’ to him in the required format (A).
The CBI set up a trap the following day and Mishra was caught in it while accepting a Rs 15,000 bribe from the complainant. Following an investigation, Mishra was charged at the Court of Special Judge, CBI Cases, Lucknow.
‘In this case, the trial was stayed for most of the time as different petitions were pending in the matter before the High Court. The petitions filed by the accused were adequately countered by the CBI prosecutors. The CBI was successful in convincing both the trial court and the High Court about the merits of the prosecution’s case…following which the petitions of the accused were rejected and the interim relief in favour of the accused was also waived,’ according to CBI spokesperson RC Joshi.
On the basis of the CBI’s evidence, the trial court declared Mishra guilty on Monday and sentenced him to prison for accepting a bribe.
Post Your Comments