VARANASI: Additional sessions and special judge (anti-corruption) Ashok Kumar Singh Yadav on Tuesday awarded three-year rigorous imprisonment to former additional regional transport officer of Robertsganj, Shyamnath Ram, for seeking bribe to release a truck despite a court order.
District government counsel (criminal) Alok Chandra Shukla said that the court awarded three-year imprisonment and penalty of Rs 1,000 under section 7 of Prevention of Corruption Act 1988. “Same punishment was also awarded to Ram under section 13(1)(d)read with Sec 13(2) of Prevention of Corruption Act 1988 each,” he said, adding that both the sentences would run concurrently.
Providing details of the case, Shukla said that despite a court order, then ARTO Sonbhadra Shyamnath Ram had refused to release a truck in February 2002, and was seeking a bribe from truck owner Ashok Kumar of Mirzapur district. Kumar contacted then SP vigilance AK Rai in Varanasi and made a written complaint. The officials of vigilance department finalised a plan as per which a team led by Raghvendra Singh, retired from police department as deputy SP in 2018, reached Sonbhadra.
“This team sent Kumar to pay chemical coated currency notes to Ram as bribe,” he said, adding, “When Ram received cash Rs 1,500 as bribe from Kumar, the team led by Singh caught him red-handed. An FIR was lodged against Ram with Robertsganj police.”
Following the court’s verdict in this case, Singh recalled the tough time he underwent after initiating action against Ram, who was highly influential due to being close to top bureaucrats of the then state government.
“I worked for 20 year in the vigilance department and caught around 350 government officials and employees, including chief medical officer, deputy CMOs, registrar chit-fund, block development officers, clerks, police station in-charges, executive engineering of PWD and others while accepting bribes. But, I was harassed for years after initiating action against Ram,” he said.
Singh said, “I received two President medals apart from gallantry and contributed to United Nations peacekeeping forces by getting selected among 12 police officers to go with BSF and CRPF. But, I had to face a vigilance probe, seven transfers and many more harassment actions.”
District government counsel (criminal) Alok Chandra Shukla said that the court awarded three-year imprisonment and penalty of Rs 1,000 under section 7 of Prevention of Corruption Act 1988. “Same punishment was also awarded to Ram under section 13(1)(d)read with Sec 13(2) of Prevention of Corruption Act 1988 each,” he said, adding that both the sentences would run concurrently.
Providing details of the case, Shukla said that despite a court order, then ARTO Sonbhadra Shyamnath Ram had refused to release a truck in February 2002, and was seeking a bribe from truck owner Ashok Kumar of Mirzapur district. Kumar contacted then SP vigilance AK Rai in Varanasi and made a written complaint. The officials of vigilance department finalised a plan as per which a team led by Raghvendra Singh, retired from police department as deputy SP in 2018, reached Sonbhadra.
“This team sent Kumar to pay chemical coated currency notes to Ram as bribe,” he said, adding, “When Ram received cash Rs 1,500 as bribe from Kumar, the team led by Singh caught him red-handed. An FIR was lodged against Ram with Robertsganj police.”
Following the court’s verdict in this case, Singh recalled the tough time he underwent after initiating action against Ram, who was highly influential due to being close to top bureaucrats of the then state government.
“I worked for 20 year in the vigilance department and caught around 350 government officials and employees, including chief medical officer, deputy CMOs, registrar chit-fund, block development officers, clerks, police station in-charges, executive engineering of PWD and others while accepting bribes. But, I was harassed for years after initiating action against Ram,” he said.
Singh said, “I received two President medals apart from gallantry and contributed to United Nations peacekeeping forces by getting selected among 12 police officers to go with BSF and CRPF. But, I had to face a vigilance probe, seven transfers and many more harassment actions.”