Lucknow, Oct 13 (IANS) A CBI court in Lucknow has convicted and sentenced two postal officials of the Sub Post Office in Kunda, Pratapgarh, in a bribery case, an official statement said on Tuesday.
The court, on October 12, sentenced Suraj Prasad Mishra, a postal assistant, to three years of imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 15,000 on him. Santosh Kumar Saroj, a sub-postmaster, was sentenced to six months of imprisonment and fined Rs 5,000.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) registered the case on November 30, 2019, against the two officials. It was alleged that Saroj and Mishra entered into a criminal conspiracy to demand illegal gratification from a commission agent.
According to the allegations, the officials demanded a fixed bribe of Rs 100 for every Rs 20,000 deposited into Recurring Deposit (RD) accounts, describing the amount as “Suvidha Kharch”. They allegedly threatened to obstruct the agent’s work and create difficulties if the money was not paid.
The CBI laid a trap on November 30, 2019, and caught Mishra red-handed while demanding and accepting a bribe of Rs 1,000 to process a deposit of Rs 2,00,040.
Following the investigation, the agency filed a charge sheet against Saroj and Mishra on December 31, 2019.
After the trial, the court convicted and sentenced the two accused officials.
In a separate case, the CBI on October 11 arrested an official of the CGST and Central Excise Department in Bhopal for allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs 2 lakh from a company dealing in scrap. The agency also seized Rs 72.50 lakh in cash from premises linked to the official in Bhopal and Kanpur.
Rajesh Kumar, superintendent of the Preventive Branch (Headquarters) of the CGST and Central Excise Commissionerate in Bhopal, was caught red-handed while accepting the alleged bribe on Saturday, the agency said.
The CBI had registered the case against Kumar on Saturday following allegations that he had demanded an undue advantage of Rs 2 lakh per month from the proprietor of a Bhopal-based firm.
According to the agency, the company’s representative lodged a complaint alleging that Kumar demanded the money in exchange for not intercepting the firm’s vehicles carrying scrap material or creating obstacles to its business operations.
–IANS
jk/skp
